In July, wowOwow.com was one of the first media outlets to question why the mainstream media was ignoring the National Enquirer-fueled Internet sensation of John Edwards visiting the mother of a child reported to be his. Some outlets said it was a private affair. Others sniffed at the source, the National Enquirer, ignoring the fact that many of the racy tabloid’s other stories have been credited by major news outlets, including the lofty New York Times — on their front page.

But not this story.

The story escalated yesterday, with the Enquirer releasing a "spy photo" that shows the former vice-presidential candidate allegedly holding the infant, Frances Quinn Hunter, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles, where Rielle Hunter — the baby’s mother and Edwards’s purported mistress — was checked in.

This time, the story is percolating up from the web to mainstream newspapers such as the Philadelphia Inquirer and Dallas Morning News.

For the devotees of drama, here is the recap:

In July, National Enquirer reporters caught ex-Sen. John Edwards visiting his alleged love child and his mistress, Rielle Hunter, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. In an almost surreal scene described on the Enquirer’s website, Edwards was said to have fled to a men’s room, pushing against a door while the reporters pushed in and asked questions from the other side. Then, Fox News confirmed that Edwards was in fact at the hotel trying desperately to dodge reporters. For many reasons, we hope this story isn’t true …

However, to further prove the veracity of the Enquirer story, their reporters found on the hotel’s website a picture of the room’s curtains to show that the beige-colored window treatments match the photograph. Click here to visit the Beverly Hilton Hotel’s website and to see the photographs of the rooms.