On the night of July 4th, Catharine Elizabeth (’Cate’) Edwards, the elder daughter of John Edwards, the 2004 nominee for Vice President of the United States from the Democratic Party, was sitting reading the fine print of a Public Intoxication ticket, instead of watching the fireworks commemorate the birth of the country her father wanted to help run.

Edwards was fined for drinking in public while sitting outside of a house party with friends in Newport Beach, CA. She was sitting next to a group of guys playing beer pong when the cops arrived. No worries, they were all of legal age. I know, the beer pong throws you off! Edwards is 26 years old.

In her defense, she’s no Jenna Bush, and was not the only one who deserved a fine that night at the party. However, she was the only one who could be ticketed since she was technically the only one carrying an alcoholic drink at the time police arrived at the location on a routine July 4th neighborhood check. She was a victim of having the wrong drink, at the wrong place and the wrong time.

Sources tell Hollywire that Edwards tried to talk herself out of the ticket and even asked the two officers if they knew who she was. Yeah, she went there.

Bad move, Cate. Being a part of a political family, you don’t want to be telling everyone who you are while getting intoxicated, or even just holding a red plastic cup with water in it.

Also, I think the “do you know who I am” question might have not gone over well with law enforcement in a city that is still mostly conservative.

On another note, unsafe driving is a sensitive issue with the Edwards family, as Cate was rear-ended by a drunk driver earlier this year, and John and his wife lost their son, Wade, at age 16 in a car accident in 1996 from being swept by strong winds in North Carolina.