Paula Broadwell, U.S. senator?

Posted: Friday, Nov. 16, 2012

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Kelley and Broadwell visited the White House

The White House acknowledged Friday that Jill Kelley, the Tampa socialite who inadvertently triggered the FBI investigation that uncovered former CIA director David Petraeus’ affair, visited the Executive Mansion three times in the last three months with her twin sister, Natalie, twice eating in its mess.

Kelley and her sister – both are friends with Petraeus and Gen. John Allen – were guests of a mid-level White House aide, according to an Obama administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity because those visitor records have not yet been made public. Kelley and her family also received a tour of the mansion.

The White House also acknowledged that Petraeus’ biographer and paramour, Paula Broadwell of Charlotte, visited there in June 2009 and June 2011.

Neither woman met with President Barack Obama during their visits. Associated Press

North Carolina – home to former Sen. John Edwards and future Sen. Paula Broadwell?

Not a chance that’ll happen now that Charlotte-based Broadwell has been outed as David Petraeus’ mistress and co-star of the most-talked-about extramarital romance since – well, John Edwards and Charlotte-based Rielle Hunter.

But Time magazine reports that Broadwell had a plan to run for the Senate, as a Republican from the Tar Heel State.

Over drinks last July in Aspen, Colo., she told a small group that she had been approached by some “Republican moneymen,” as Time put it, about running – presumably against Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan, who is up for re-election in 2014. (Republican Sen. Richard Burr won a second term in 2010).

Broadwell was tempted. But Petraeus shot down her plan, Broadwell told the group “in an irritated tone,” the magazine said.

Petraeus – ex-CIA director, retired general and subject of a gushing 2012 biography by Broadwell – interrogated her about her positions on several issues: abortion, climate change, gun control, gay marriage, tax cuts, and Social Security vouchers.

“Her answers, he told her, would not fit either party, and she should not sell herself out,” Time reported. Tim Funk

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