Her plan: Senator Paula Broadwell, R-N.C.

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 in Aspen, Colo., last July, 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).

She 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, Social Security vouchers.

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

Like Petraeus, Broadwell graduated from the U.S. Military Academy. She went on to become a counterterrorism expert. Her book is titled "All In: The Education of General David Petraeus."

-- Tim Funk