As Elizabeth Edwards continued to air details of her husband's affair Thursday, she opened the gates to a tabloid torrent that left even friends and supporters questioning her motives.

In an hourlong interview with Oprah Winfrey, she talked about former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards' affair with a campaign worker. And in a new book out today, she calls the former mistress, Rielle Hunter, "pathetic."

The media campaign, with more TV appearances and book signings scheduled, breaks months of silence about the affair. It also sparked a backlash.

Hunter has said she wants a DNA test to prove the paternity of her year-old child. Her sister kept the issue alive Thursday on "Entertainment Tonight." Blogs are breathlessly following the latest turns of what has become North Carolina's long-running soap opera.

Meanwhile, some of the Edwardses' friends are scratching their heads.

"The risk is that it stirs up a lot of ugliness and unpleasantness," said Gary Pearce, a Democratic strategist who helped John Edwards win a 1998 Senate race.

"Who knows why people do things. She may feel that she has an audience and something to say that helps people who are going through tough times. And I'm sure some people will say, 'Why is she rehashing all this publicly? Is this too much information?'" (N&O)

Asked if she is still in love with her husband, Elizabeth Edwards told Oprah Winfrey "that's a complicated question."

And when Winfrey asked about marriage, Edwards said, "Neither one of us is out the door so I guess it's day by day, but maybe it's month-by-month."

Edwards' appearance on Oprah Thursday marks her most extensive public comments since former Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. John Edwards acknowledged an affair last summer, Jim Morrill reports.

Winfrey interviewed both Edwards at their sprawling, 28,000-foot Chapel Hill home. Her publicists released a partial transcript Tuesday of what they called "a no-holds-barred conversation, where no topic is off limits."

More after the jump.

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TV host Oprah Winfrey interviewed Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of the former presidential candidate, at the couple's Chapel Hill home last week, according to NationalJournal.com.

John Edwards, the former senator and presidential candidate, was on hand for the interview, the publication reported.

The appearance was apparently connected to the release of Elizabeth Edwards' new book, "Resilience: Reflections on the Burdens and Gifts of Facing Life's Adversities."

The program, which is scheduled to air May 11, will be the first nationally televised interview with either Edwards since the former senator disclosed on television last summer that he had an affair with videographer Rielle Hunter.

Hunter gave birth to a daughter in February 2008, but Edwards has denied being the baby’s father.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole has been among the most admired women in an annual poll.

Between 1996 and 2003, Dole was among the top 10 women named by Americans based on random phone surveys done by Gallup each December since 1946. She was also in the top 10 in 1987, 1990 and 2005.

She first landed in the top 10 as Transportation secretary under President Reagan and again while serving as Labor secretary under the first President Bush.

Her highest ratings were in the 1990s, when she headed the American Red Cross, particularly in 1996 when her husband Bob ran for president and in 1998 and 1999 when she ran for president. Her lowest ratings were in the early 1990s and after she became a U.S. senator in 2003.

In 2004 and 2006, Dole received one percent, but she was not in the top 10. In 2007, Dole received less than half a percent, her lowest score since 1994.

In recent years, the list has also grown, with women such as Condoleezza Rice, Angelina Jolie and Nancy Pelosi joining such longtime stalwarts as Hillary Clinton, Oprah Winfrey and Margaret Thatcher. That has pushed Dole farther down the list.

The top 10 list does not include respondents who answered "None or No Opinion," "Other" or "Friend or Relative." Those responses would typically receive a substantial percentage.

Dole's rankings since 1987 after the jump.

Correction: Some numbers have been changed based on new information.

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Gayle King is calling North Carolina voters for Barack Obama.

In a minute-and-a-half long recorded call, the longtime friend of talk-show host Oprah Winfrey encourages North Carolinians to get out to vote.

"This, as you may have heard, is a very, very, very tight race and Barack Obama needs you to get to the polls because every vote matters, so please be sure to take your family and friends along with you today," she says.

She also gives a toll-free number for people who need a ride to the polls and reminds them that they can vote as long as they're in line by 7:30 p.m.

"This message, by the way, is paid for by Obama for America, and I apologize that it's so long, but this is so important to me," she says.

A transcript after the jump.

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Michelle Obama drew a crowd of around 5,700 in Raleigh Wednesday.

Speaking at the Reynolds Coliseum at N.C. State, she argued that her husband was "ready to lead" as president.

The Obama campaign said that the crowd was the largest she has received on her own, easily topping a crowd of 2,500 at Villanova University in Philadelphia. (She has drawn larger crowds when appearing with Oprah Winfrey.)

She said Barack Obama was a proven winner despite competing against "a political dynasty," raising records amounts of money, collecting the most delegates and closing the superdelegate gap with Hillary Clinton.

"Barack has won more states, and he has won in all in kinds of states — big states and small states, red states and blue states, and swing states. He won in primaries and caucuses," she said. "When was the last time you saw a candidate who could cobble together such diverse victories in states as Utah and Washington State, and Louisiana and Virginia, and Montana and Illinois?"

Her appearances in metropolitan areas contrasted with Bill Clinton's recent tour of rural North Carolina. (N&O) 

Oprah Winfrey, Bill O'Reilly and the possibility of an endorsement by David Letterman are among the subjects discussed when former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards appears tonight on the "Late Show with David Letterman."

Of course, not all of the discussion was as serious as Monday night's Democratic presidential debate in South Carolina.

And, at one point, Letterman tangled with Edwards' famous hair, according to quotes released by the show, which was taped this afternoon.

Letterman asked Edwards about the value of Winfrey's endorsement of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.

"I'm kind of thinking you can do for me what Oprah's done for Barack," Edwards said.

Edwards and Letterman also discussed O'Reilly.

"He's a marvelous communicator, but he doesn't really care much about telling the truth," Letterman said.

"Yeah, I've noticed the same thing," Edwards responded.

Letterman: "Very entertaining, and I like when he's on the show, but if you say one thing..."

Edwards: "But most of what he says is crap."

Letterman: "I think you're right. There you go, exactly. I like how you think, Senator."

One more nugget from the N&O's TV critic.

Danny Hooley caught up with James Denton, an actor on TV's "Desperate Housewives" who's recently been stumping for Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards.

Denton said that he likes Edwards' stances on the environment and health care, but he admits he's "no Chuck Norris" and "no Oprah Winfrey" when it comes to endorsement power. He also had this anecdote about life on the trail:

"Yesterday I had lunch on the bus with Elizabeth [Edwards] and John," he says. "They're just normal people, really funny. He looked down at one point and asked Elizabeth, 'Do I have your socks on?' He actually did, by accident. So the rest of the day, there was joking about him wearing Elizabeth's hosiery."

"Oh, gosh," Hooley writes. "Wait until conservative bloggers get a hold of that one."

Will Kevin Bacon help John Edwards at the polls today?

A Wake Forest University professor is skeptical.

Kenneth Herbst, a professor of marketing at WFU's Babcock Graduate School of Management, studied whether celebrity endorsements make a difference.

According to his survey of voters in the 2004 presidential election, co-authored with Natalie Wood of Saint Joseph's University, celebrities can have an impact on candidates' image, but not necessarily their elections returns.

"Despite the abundance of celebrity endorsements, voters' close family members and well-respected others seem to be a stronger predictor of first-time voting behavior," they wrote.

Still, Herbst said Oprah Winfrey's backing of Barack Obama might have an effect in 2008. 

Elizabeth Edwards was honored last night as one of Time magazine's 100 "most influential people in the world." But for the New York Post, the interest was in where all the famous folks were sitting at the black-tie dinner in New York.

The list is not ranked, and Time Managing Editor Richard Stengel - who was assigned to Table 10 with former vice presidential candidate John Edwards, his wife Elizabeth, an honoree, and another honoree, "Ugly Betty" star America Ferrera - insists it is not a "hot list" but rather something that measures the intangible quality of "influence."

Still, media watchers for the sheer sport of it have come to scrutinize the seating chart of the attendees to see who snags the best tables and liveliest seating companions.

Among those attending, according to the Post, were Oprah Winfrey, Henry Kissinger, Michael J. Fox and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.