A comeback for John Edwards?

So this Eliot Spitzer thing has us thinking. If the disgraced former New York governor can run for New York City comptroller, and if the revealing Tweeter Anthony Weiner can run for mayor of New York City, why can't scandal-plagued North Carolinians make their own comebacks?

Spitzer told the New York Times he's "hopeful there will be forgiveness" five years after he resigned in a prostitution scandal. Weiner, who tweeted his private parts to unsuspecting women, is near the top of the polls. Come to think of it, we have an example closer to home: Mark Sanford is back in Congress despite his hike with a mistress along the Appalachian Trail.

It's all enough to make John Edwards' head spin. So who around Charlotte and North Carolina might be emboldened by Spitzer's and Weiner's moves? Here are five possibilities:

1. John Edwards. Sure, the former U.S. senator and presidential candidate impregnated his campaign videographer despite his wife's battle with (ultimately fatal) cancer, then lied about the affair repeatedly. He still has white teeth, we assume. Spitzer plans to self-finance his campaign, something Edwards could pull off as well.

2. Jim Black. The former speaker of the N.C. House has paid his debt to society -- more than three years in prison -- after admitting to taking bribes. And there is an opening coming up in the N.C. Speaker's office...

3. Warren Turner. The former Charlotte City Council member was defeated in 2011 after sexual harassment allegations and after being fired from his job as a state probation officer. But the state reinstated him to the probation job last year and gave him back pay. Filing for his old District 3 seat is currently open.

4. Paula Broadwell. Her affair with David Petraeus brought down the CIA director and four-star general, and had the national media camped out outside her Dilworth home last fall. Before that, insiders were talking about her as a potential U.S. Senate candidate. She said in May that she has "remorse for the harm (and) sadness that this has caused in my family..." and "I'm not focused on the past." So what's in her future?

5. Andrew Reyes. He was elected chairman of the Mecklenburg County Democratic Party in 1999 and was a candidate for the board of county commissioners. That was before he was convicted of embezzling $3.6 million, bank fraud and tax evasion and served three years. Ancient history by now, right?

OK, so some comebacks are more believable than others. Who do you think could soon be on the comeback trail?

-- Taylor Batten