Report: Elizabeth Edwards Has Passed Away

Multiple sources are now reporting that Elizabeth
Edwards has died from cancer at her home in North Carolina today.

Writing for the News Observer, Rob Christensen and Mandy Locke report:

Elizabeth Anania Edwards, who became a national figure in her fight against cancer and as a partner in her husband John’s political career, died today. She was 61.

Edwards spent much of her life as a little-known Raleigh lawyer and mother. But that all changed when her husband, John Edwards, entered politics as a U.S. senator and became a two-time presidential candidate and the Democratic nominee for vice president.

Her husband’s career put her in the spotlight as a smart, plain-spoken wife who was a key adviser to her husband.

She later became a figure of sympathy as she battled breast cancer and dealt with her husband’s infidelity. And, in the last few years, her public image shifted again: the scorned woman whose husband fathered a child with another woman.

Several journalists on Twitter are fondly recalling having spent time with Ms. Edwards, many pointing out that she forever changed the way spouses of politicians will forever be considered.

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