According to editors who saw the proposal, Young went along with the plan—for an undisclosed sum of money—and took Hunter in for eight months.Aided by the late Fred Baron—the Texas lawyer who was an unofficial “uncle” to Edwards and who admitted paying to move the Youngs-plus-Hunter to Santa Barbara, California—Young wanted to help his friend, he says.But the situation became too much for Edwards, Young’s proposal alleges, when the National Enquirer outed the senator for his affair with Hunter, and when Elizabeth Edwards became aware of the financial arrangement.But when Young voiced his concerns to Edwards, he was cut off by the candidate, and has had virtually no contact with him or his family since.(Young could not be reached. David McCormick declined to comment on the project.)

When initial reports of Young-as-baby-daddy surfaced, he was portrayed as a clean-cut campaign worker, but in the intervening year, reporters found a history of arrests (for check forgery and burglary) and convictions (for driving while intoxicated). Young told editors he has met with that he feels his reputation is in tatters, and that he wants to “set the record straight.” He sees himself as a victim of the press and of the Edwardses, whom he once thought of as among his closest, personal friends.