Tarnished pop princesses can make a comeback. Britney anyone?

Disgraced sports announcers can, too. Remember Marv Albert?

Even former substance-abusing actors. Look at Robert Downey Jr.

Politicians?

Not so much.

While Democrats convening in Denver select their presidential nominee and create the necessary synergy for their fight against the Republicans' choice, a familiar face is absent from the festivities.

John Edwards.

His recent admission of an affair with video producer Rielle Hunter and the lingering question of whether he fathered her child, has left the landscape of his political future looking like scorched earth, according to political pundits.

Mr. Edwards, whose star had continued to shine despite having dropped out of the Democratic primary, will not attend the convention, nor will his wife, Elizabeth.

He also pulled out of a "Take Back Labor Day" concert in Minnesota to be held during the Republican National Convention next week.

In a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll taken last week, 49 percent had a very or somewhat negative view of Mr. Edwards. In January, when he was still a contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, only 27 percent of the voters in the poll felt that way.

A CNN survey taken right after Mr. Edwards' admission showed that 73 percent felt the affair had ruined his political career.

"The reality is John Edwards didn't have a bright political future anyway," said Marc Lamont Hill, a professor of American Studies at Temple University.

"He'd lost two elections. He didn't have the confidence of the American voters, and he was eclipsed by Barack Obama as a darling of the left."

Mr. Edwards' name had been bandied about as a possible Obama vice president or attorney general pick.

But those chances have been swept away by the wave of scandal, and as far as ever becoming president, forget about it.

"You can't have a president with a baby momma," Dr. Hill said.

John Edwards' political brand, he said, was built on being the nation's moral conscience.

"He was one of the few liberals to make" the issues of housing, education and poverty moral issues. "If your political brand hinges on morality it's very difficult for you to tell such blatant lies to the nation."

But didn't former President Bill Clinton lie about his dalliance with White House intern Monica Lewinsky?

The difference, say political experts, is that Mr. Clinton was already in his second term in office when that scandal occurred.

Another reason Mr. Clinton was able to weather that political storm is because he never had the back story of a clean-cut, all-American boy.

"Clinton came to symbolize of lot of things that were the '60s counter culture," said Paul Apostolidis, a political science professor at Whitman College and co-editor of the book "Public Affairs: Politics in the Age of Sex Scandals."

He said the image of Mr. Clinton was as someone who was part of the forces questioning the sacred values of American society.

"For Clinton, there was already a narrative about someone who was the violator of social norms," Apostolidis said. In Mr. Edwards' case, his wife's battle with cancer and his commitment to his family were such a big part of his story.

"He'd have to really rewrite that story, and that's a tough thing to do," Apostolidis said.

Allyson Lowe, director of the Pennsylvania Center for Women, Politics and Public Policy at Chatham University, agrees.

"Political campaigns and political lives are often about being able to tell a convincing story," she said. "And it's one of the things that would be particularly difficult for Edwards right now."

Ms. Lowe said an important part of the former senator's public recovery will be the leadership role his wife plays in telling the story of how the affair has affected her family.

Throughout the campaigns Mrs. Edwards has portrayed her husband as someone who is more than the image the media sees, Ms. Lowe said.

"She has given him the very tangible qualities that she herself enjoys in the public eye," she said.

While his political future is greatly in doubt, Mr. Edwards could still make a public comeback by championing an issue or a cause, much like Al Gore did with global warming.

"There's still work for him to do," Ms. Lowe said. "It might be outside the traditional political arena."