Back in the 2008 presidential election, I remember hearing a vague rumbling about an alleged affair Barack Obama had in 2004, when he was running for the open Illinois seat for the U.S. Senate. The sourcing was always weird for the story – I think one of the British tabloid started it initially. The alleged “other woman” was named Vera Baker, and she was a staffer on his Senate campaign. Now, a few years after the initial reports, The National Enquirer is beginning the claims anew. At first, the Enquirer claimed they had “video evidence” of the affair, but now they’re backtracking on that. So as it stands, their story is based entirely on the supposed eye-witness testimony of a limo driver who claims he drove Vera Baker to a hotel Obama was staying. Here’s more:

Reports out of Washington, DC: PRESIDENT OBAMA in a shocking cheating scandal after being caught in a Washington, D.C. Hotel with a former campaign aide.

A confidential investigation has learned that Obama first became close to gorgeous 35 year-old VERA BAKER in 2004 when she worked tirelessly to get him elected to the US Senate, raising millions in campaign contributions.

Now, the investigators are searching for a hotel surveillance videotape.

While Baker has insisted in the past that “nothing happened” between them, reports reveal that top anti-Obama operatives are offering more than $1 million to witnesses to reveal what they know about the alleged hush-hush affair.

Among those being offered money is a limo driver who says in 2004 that he took Vera to a secret hotel rendezvous in a Washington hotel where Obama was staying.

An ENQUIRER reporter has confirmed the limo driver’s account of the secret 2004 rendezvous and has also learned that on-site hotel surveillance video camera footage could provide indisputable evidence to the investigation.

[From The National Enquirer]

Eh. CB thinks it could be true, and that Pres. Obama and Michelle have already worked through it, so there should be no public scandal. I tend to think that although the Enquirer has gotten some stories right about politicians’ sex lives, there’s so much misinformation about Obama anyway that this “affair” story has a 95% chance of being bullsh-t. I mean, what does it boil down to, if the limo driver is telling the truth? That he drove an attractive Obama staffer to the hotel Obama may or may not have been staying at. Mediaite has more criticisms of why this is all likely bullsh-t.

Also, Saturday was the big correspondent’s dinner, and by most accounts, Obama’s address was very well-received. He had some good zingers, but it all seemed pretty tame. Probably because Jay Leno was the keynote speaker – they should have gone Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert. Here’s Obama’s speech:

Here are some photos of all of the celebrities at the dinner: