The finale in the prosecution of John Edwards today may feature Leo Hindery, a political backer who witnessed Edwards' desperate attempt to salvage a top level job from Barack Obama even after Edwards' mistress gave birth to his love child.
Hindery is expected to be one of the last witnesses for the prosecution before it rests its case today.
Conspicuous by her absence will be Rielle Hunter, Edwards' lover who had his baby while Edwards was seeking the 2008 presidential nomination.
Hindery is expected to tell the jurors that even after Hunter gave birth to daughter Frances Quinn and Edwards dropped out of the presidential sweepstakes, Edwards was still trying to make political deals with Obama to be vice president or attorney general.
Edwards is on trial for allegedly using nearly $1 million in donations to hide his pregnant mistress. Hindery's testimony could bolster the allegation that his efforts to keep the affair secret was tied to his political ambition.
The one-time presidential candidate could be sentenced for up to 30 years in prison if convicted.
Edwards' defense, however, claims the money was spent to hide Hunter from his wife Elizabeth, who was dying of cancer.
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Watch Video In the book "Game Change" by Mark Halperin and John Heileman, Hindery is described as a political money man and Edwards' loyalist who was a go-between in Edwards' increasingly desperate efforts to land a top job in the Obama administration, despite the emerging sex scandal.
Edwards first offered to drop out of the race and be Obama's vice president on the night of the Iowa caucuses, which Obama won. The offer was made by Hindery through Obama's ally, former senator Tom Daschle.
After Hillary Clinton fought back and won in New Hampshire, Hindery was dispatched with another offer, according to the book's insider account. "John will settle for attorney general," Hindery emailed Daschle.
An amazed Daschle wrote back that the offer was "ridiculous." "It's going to ambassador to Zimbabwe next," Daschle wrote.
Edwards dropped out of the race after a poor third place finish in South Carolina, but kept angling for a job. And according to prosecutors kept using donations from wealthy backers to hide Hunter.
Even after the National Enquirer published a grainy photo of Edwards holding his secret baby, he was still hoping to be chosen to be attorney general, the book claims.
In emotional testimony on Wednesday, Edwards' former spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri cried as she described how Elizabeth Edwards, who was dying of cancer, clung to her husband's lies that he was not the father of Hunter's baby.
She also told the jury how Elizabeth Edwards separated from her husband and worried to Palmieri that she would now die alone, that "there would not be a man around who loved her. And I said: 'I would be there.'"
As Palmieri testified, Edwards rubbed his eyes and pressed his forehead against his hand.
Edwards' daughter Cate, 30, who has been at her father's side almost every day of the trial, left the courtroom before Palmieri's emotional testimony about her mother's dying days. Cate also left the courtroom last week just before testimony about her distraught mother confronting Edwards about the affair on an airport tarmac, collapsing on the ground and tearing off her blouse.
Cate Edwards is slated to be one of her father's witnesses when the defense begins its case. Also on Edwards' list of witnesses is Rielle Hunter.
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