By Edward Epstein, Michael Teitelbaum and Molly Hooper, CQ Staff

John Edwards, the Democrats’ 2004 vice presidential nominee who unsuccessfully sought the top spot on the party’s ticket this year, is like the man who never was among party leaders gathered in Denver.

Edwards, the one-term North Carolina senator whose 2008 candidacy ended in January, admitted in early August, after a lot of tabloid disclosures, that he had been carrying on an extramarital affair with a campaign aide even as his wife, Elizabeth, was battling cancer. He also admitted that he had repeatedly lied about it. It still isn’t clear if he fathered an out of wedlock child during the affair, but he says he is willing to take a paternity test to prove he isn’t the baby’s father.

Edwards isn’t in Denver for the convention, and that’s just fine with a lot of people who are still smarting from the scandal. The ex-senator’s name hasn’t been mentioned in the convention proceedings. Many seem to think that the last thing a party trying to heal itself after a tough nomination battle between Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton needs is the distraction that Edwards’ presence or even any discussion of him would create.

Sen. Ken Salazar , D-Colo., said he thought it was appropriate that Edwards is staying away.

“What John Edwards did was inexcusable and wrong,” Salazar said. “From my point of view as one of the hosts of this convention, I’m glad he’s not here.”

Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., one of the relative handful of congressional members who endorsed Edwards’ 2008 presidential candidacy, said he was “shocked, appalled, upset and disgraced” over Edwards’ conduct, then said he didn’t want to talk about the subject any further.

When a reporter asked House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer , D-Md., as he was racing to an event, why Edwards is never being mentioned at the convention, Hoyer stopped in his tracks, and said, “You know why.”

Personal, Not Business

Others were somewhat more forgiving toward Edwards.

“He’s an honest man. He and Elizabeth Edwards have made great contributions to our country,” said Rep. Jim McGovern , D-Mass. “His personal life is his business. It’s none of my business.”

Freshman Rep. Ed Perlmutter , D-Colo., said he still has positive feelings for Edwards. “I like John Edwards. I’m sorry for his personal travails.”

Among rank and file delegates, Wilma Sharp of Texas said she hadn’t heard other delegates even talking about Edwards and that she understood why the former vice presidential nominee wasn’t in town.

”I got the feeling that it was a negative and that it wasn’t a good time for him to be here,” she said.