Elizabeth Edwards' Cancer Back, John Edwards Remains In Race

Senator John Edwards and his wife Elizabeth held a press conference this afternoon to announce that the cancer from which Elizabeth had been in remission has returned, but that Senator Edwards' presidential campaign will continue.

Saying "we are very optimistic about this," John Edwards confirmed that "her cancer is back" and that doctors had "found a malignancy" that has spread from her breast, which had been treated before, to one of her rib bones.

"We're going to always look for the silver lining -- that is who we are as people," said Elizabeth, adding that, while she knows some of the medication will at times weaken her, she expects "to do next week all the things that I did last week."

John Edwards also announced that he will not suspend, much less end, his campaign for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination and that "the campaign goes on and the campaign goes on strongly."

"When this happens you have a choice. You can go into a corner and cower and hide or you can stand up for what you believe in," said the former North Carolina Senator.

Announcing that she will immediately take campaign trips with her husband to New York, Boston and California, Elizabeth confirmed that their family considered no other political choice.

"I'm immensely proud of John's campaign," she said. "There's nobody in this country who's offering a more positive and delineated vision than John. I can't deprive him of that."

Said John Edwards of his wife's illness and the campaign: "We will be in this every step of the way together."