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Even Presidential Hopefuls Can’t Get A PS3

Everything's been so serious lately, we figured you could use a little levity in your day…and it doesn't get much funnier than this when it comes to launch day festivities.

The Associated Press reported that former Vice Presidential candidate and 2008 Presidential hopeful John Edwards tried to use his title and influence to weasle a PS3 at Wal-Mart. Last Thursday, an Edwards staff member contacted the store in Raleigh, North Carolina, and after identifying himself, attempted to secure one of the coveted systems for the former Senator. Senators don't stand in line, after all.

Oh, but it gets better because there's some serious irony involved. Just a day earlier, Edwards was involved in a union conference where he addressed the poor treatment of Wal-Mart employees. And of course, Wal-Mart was quick to respond to the somewhat hypocritical situation:

"While the rest of America's working families are waiting patiently in line," the Wal-Mart statement said, "Sen. Edwards wants to cut to the front."

Edwards immediately denied that anybody from his staff contacted the store, but it wasn't long before he finally came clean, admitting a staff member did indeed make the call. But in another change to the story, Edwards claimed the staffer was trying to nail down a PS3 for himself, and not for Edwards.

"My wife, Elizabeth, wanted to get a PlayStation 3 for my young children. She mentioned it in front of one of my staff people. That staff person mentioned it in front of a volunteer who said he would make an effort to get one. He was making an effort to go get one for himself," Edwards said. "Elizabeth and I knew nothing about this. [The staffer] feels terrible about this. He made a mistake and he knows he should not have used my name."

There were so few PlayStation 3s at launch, that millions of hopeful owners went home unhappy on Friday. But regardless of what their intentions were, you can take a little solace in the fact that U.S. Senators – and their staff – weren't any more successful.