'Lost, Lonely' John Edwards Drops Out of Sight

Without his political career and largely without his family, John Edwards seems unmoored. He spends lots of time with his lawyers and lots of time ducking process servers working for the lawyer of his former right-hand man, Andrew Young—who's being sued by Edwards' former mistress, Rielle Hunter. Edwards isn't even hitting on women in bars anymore, Diane Dimond reports from Raleigh for the Daily Beast.

Edwards' fantasy is a Grishamesque law practice—"He wanted to return to taking cases advocating for the little guy against big corporations," says a former friend—but his life is on hold while the federal investigation of his campaign finances remains incomplete. The US attorney, a Republican considered untouchable while Edwards and another Democratic pol are under suspicion, isn't exactly fast-tracking the case. Meanwhile, estranged wife Elizabeth and the couple's two kids live on the family estate in Chapel Hill, but "everybody in town assumes the mansion is for sale," says a real estate broker. (More John Edwards stories.)