Desperate Edwards calculates Coulter factor

Houston Chronicle:

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth, are taking on conservative lightning rod Ann Coulter — and using her to raise campaign cash.

"We are past the time for caution and calculation," John Edwards said at a Houston fundraiser Wednesday.

The Edwards' beef with Coulter goes back to January when she referred to Edwards using an anti-gay slur during a conservative conference. On Monday, Coulter said on ABC's Good Morning America: "I've learned my lesson. If I'm gonna say anything about John Edwards in the future, I'll just wish he had been killed in a terrorist assassination plot."

On Tuesday, Elizabeth Edwards engaged Coulter during an appearance on MSNBC's Hardball. Edwards called in to the show and asked Coulter to stop the "attacks," saying that it was not "legitimate political dialogue."

Coulter did not back down and said the campaign was using her "to raise money." Just like the January speech, the latest exchange is up on the Edwards campaign site and is being used as a fundraising tool.

John Edwards started his speech Wednesday by saying he was proud of his wife for standing up to Coulter.

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The event was one of a series of "Small Change for Big Change" grassroots fundraisers the campaign launched earlier this month. Several hundred people packed Goode's Armadillo Palace, contributing an average of $20 apiece for the low-dollar affair.

"While John Edwards is collecting small change in Houston, voters are waiting to hear what kind of big change he is making to his lavish lifestyle," said Paul Lindsay, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee.

"At least the attendees can take comfort in the good they are doing for the Edwards campaign; for every 15 tickets sold this evening, the candidate can afford to get another haircut," he said, referring to the candidate's now infamous $400 haircut.

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Coulter is a master of of unceremonious insults and Edwards makes a good target. He is a guy who made his fortune by making up conversations with unborn babies in junk science lawsuits. He is wrong on Iraq and most other issues in the campaign and his use of Coulter for a sympathy donation is pretty pathetic. It is about as pathetic as having his wife call and try to sandbag Coulter on a set up orchestrated by liberal bloviator Chris Mathews.

John McIntyre says Edwards' implosion is bad news for Hillary, because his voters are likely to go to Obama in a largely two way race.