seriously. the national spelling bee champ wins with the word most of us have likely never used, maybe not even ever heard of. the answer to that is probably no, right? these kids are really bright nowadays. nothing surprises me anymore. every year they get smarter and smarter. good morning, everybody, welcome to early start. we re really happy to have you here this morning. we are bringing you the news from a to z 5:00 a.m. here in the east. let s get started. up first, john edwards likely off the legal hook for good after a jury acquitted him of one count of campaign finance fraud and was hopelessly deadlocked on five other counts. the judge declaring a mistrial on those charges. and many legal experts don t expect prosecutors to retry the former presidential candidate who was accused of misusing campaign contributions to hide an extramarital affair during the 2008 election. here is our jeffrey toobin. i don t see any rationale for going forward with this case. jo