the only basis the navy had to do this were at the extreme ends of the blockade, here in hampson roads, virginia and 1,000 miles to the south at key west, florida. ships blockading charleston, roughly halfway between the two, had to steam about 500 miles north or 500 miles south to get more coal, burning up about half of what they could carry to make the trip. for the long run, this simply would not do. they needed a closer refuge if a blockade was going to become effective. this led to several efforts to grab sections of the confederate coastline. and the first such effort took place on the carolina capes. the very geography of the carolinas made it a natural sanctuary for both blockade runners and armed vessels of the confederacy attempting to conduct commerce rating or gare decourse in the french race. the barrier islands offered natural protection to the sounds and the several inlets into those sounds not only offered the confederate sanctuary for their blockade runners, but also a hiding place to common placeres. in fact, it was used both during the american revolution and the war

joining me now is hampson dellinger.overing the edwards trial by blog and places like the atlantic online. mr. dellinger, thank you for time, nice to have you here. >> you're welcome. great to be with you. >> i know you have been covering this very, very closely. did i get the basics there about the scandal and the case? i won't be surprised if i messed something up? >> i'm not surprised you didn't. you got it spot on. and this really is a one-of-a-kind case that will likely be the only case of its kind because of the law west world we live in post citizens united, post speech now. we've got corporations and individuals giving tens of millions of dollars as you pointed out in direct aid of candidates and their campaign, so $900,000 in indirect aid doesn't feel right, doesn't smell right. clearly his activity as a husband was heinous, but it has never been considered felonious until now. >> in terms of that aspect of it, the decision to bring a prosecution here, you clearly think there was no foregone conclusion that the