A walk down memory lane with Edwin Edwards
by Stephanie Grace - Times-Picayune (excerpt)

(H)e was still the Cajun prince, a larger than life character who entered on the arm of his new 32-year-old bride Trina with a singing and fiddling Doug Kershaw trailing behind, then settled comfortably into a big gilded chair that sure resembled a throne. And for a couple of hours, anyway, bright red Louisiana was still dominated by populist Democrats, and a politician's most important asset was his comic timing -- which in Edwards' case, has survived both incarceration and advancing age. So has Edwards' reputation for enjoying certain extra-political activities -- as was quite clear from the off-color tributes. Public relations executive LeAnne Weill cracked a joke about Hugh Hefner, "or, as Edwin refers to him, amateur." Former Insurance Commissioner Jim Brown riffed on one of the roastee's most famous quips, a claim Edwards made during his 1991 campaign against ex-Klansman David Duke. Brown asked Trina Edwards to report back after a year of married life whether, even at 85, Edwards is still also a "wizard under the sheets." And businessman Bill Goldring recalled Edwards' advice to Bill Clinton back when Gennifer Flowers claimed that they'd had a torrid love affair for 12 years. Edwards told Clinton that her accusation wasn't credible, Goldring told a crowd that included Flowers herself, because "there is no such thing as a torrid love affair for twelve years."