If one is to believe the National Enquirer and the right-wing blogosphere which jumped on this story like a stud horse on a mare, Edwards was trysting with Rielle Hunter Monday night at the Beverly Hilton. It allegedly was not the first time. Making the story juicier, the Enquirer claims, is the additional fun "fact" that Hunter is the mother of Edwards' illegitimate child.

Edwards' pal, Andrew Young, also married, claims to be the father of that child, meaning Young is really willing to fall on the sword to help a buddy - or Hunter isn't averse to sleeping with multiple Democrats.

If the sordid tale is true and Edwards is cheating on his wife, Elizabeth, while she's battling cancer, this puts him in rarified air even for a politician - with Newt Gingrich, for instance.

And it may be true. One of Hunter's goals as a consultant to Edwards' campaign was to remove his "Ken doll" image, though the idea probably wasn't to replace that with a Ron Jeremy doll.

So far, all the Enquirer has on this alleged tryst is that Edwards was in Hunter's hotel room at the Beverly Hilton on Monday night.

Not sure what that means.

Tattle has been one-on-one in hotel rooms with Sienna Miller, Keri Russell, Keira Knightley and other babes, and we can honestly report that, alas, nothing happened. It is possible to hang out in a hotel suite without rattling the headboard.

But let's assume for a minute that Elizabeth Edwards' treatments have hindered their sex lives, and Edwards, being a standard-issue horndog politician, chose to look elsewhere for excitement. Maybe Elizabeth gave him permission to look elsewhere.

Yes, he'd still be an ass, but in a post-Clinton, post-Spitzer age, could he be such a stupid ass as to carry on with a political confidante who produced movies for his campaign? And could he be so monumentally moronic as to meet said mistress at a hotel as public as the Beverly Hilton?

As Daily News TV critic Ellen Gray informed us from the Television Critics Association summer press tour, what makes the Beverly Hilton choice even more bizarre is that the place was crawling with reporters Monday night for the TCA, including newspaper people from the New York Times, USA Today the New York Daily News, the Washington Post, and us.

But no one but the National Enquirer seemed to spot John Edwards.

Ah, it's a big hotel, you say.

True, but the Enquirer says Hunter/Edwards friend Bob McGovern reserved rooms 246 and 252 at the Hilton. The TCA hospitality suite was down the hall in Room 234.

Tattle's not saying it's not true - and Edwards may soon be issuing tearful mea culpas - we're just saying that if Edwards chose to have a liaison in a hotel hosting a press event, he's an idiot.

In Houston yesterday, Edwards said about the Enquirer story, "That's tabloid trash. They're full of lies. I'm here to talk about helping people."

Hunter has said the stories were "not true, completely unfounded and ridiculous."

All's well that's Atwell

Thompson about "Brideshead Revisited" (opening today) and to talk down rumors that Miramax asked her to lose weight for the role.

"That was a misquote," said the actress, of reports that co-star Emma Thompson threatened to quit if producers stuck to a demand that Hayley trim a few pounds.

Thompson's close inspection of Atwell's curves indicated no need to lose weight, a fact confirmed by the dozens of heads that turned to watch the shapely star traverse the Swann Lounge at the Four Seasons Hotel.

Atwell, who debuted in Woody Allen's "Cassandra's Dream," said the weight-loss stories probably grew out of on-set efforts to help her fit into the period garb necessary to play Julia Flyte in "Brideshead," set in the 1930s and '40s.

"They had to tape my boobs down," she said. "That was the look back then. Very long lines, slim profiles. The reason women used cigarette holders was to elongate their arms. That was the look we were going for."

Allen, needless to say, placed no such restrictions on Atwell, cast in "Dream" as the object of desire who moves Ewan McGregor to murder. The role was a big break for the stage-trained Atwell (to be seen in the upcoming "The Duchess"), although the audition process was brutal.

"Coming from a theater background, I like to do as much preparation for a role as possible, so you can be as relaxed and as confident as you can be, knowing you have stuff to draw from. I show up at the audition, along with every bloody actress in London, and they gave us nothing. No name, no synopsis, just five lines of dialogue. It was horrendous. I came away thinking, if this is what Hollywood is like, I'm going back to theater. I don't even smoke, but I went out and bought a pack of cigarettes straight away," Atwell said.

She was stunned when her agent called a few weeks later, saying Allen wanted to meet her in New York.

"I flew over, spoke with him for half an hour, and got the part."

A decision seconded by the Swann lounge.

Tattbit

_ 50 Cent sued Taco Bell this week, claiming the fast-food chain is using his name without permission in advertising that asks him to call himself 99 Cent.

He's seeking $4 million in damages. Cash. No burritos.

This isn't the first time 50 Cent has sued over his name or image.

In July 2007, he filed a $1 million lawsuit accusing an Internet ad company of using his image without permission in a game called "Shoot the Rapper," in which the player pretends to shoot him.

In a related story, little-known rapper Young Cheezy Gordita is also pondering legal action against Taco Bell. *

Daily News wire services contributed to this report.

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