Dec 26, 2003  |  By: LOU CHIBBARO JR.  | COMMENTS     

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, the U.S. senator from North Carolina, has criticized rival presidential contender Howard Dean for advocating a strategy of winning votes in the South by forcing the debate beyond “guns, God and gays.”

Dean, who is considered the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, has argued that Democrats have lost badly in the South because the debate often centers on controversial social issues, such as gay rights, rather than economic issues.

But Edwards, who is trailing in the polls in the New Hampshire primary, began attacking Dean earlier this month for seeking to “duck the values debate,” which Edwards said is important to Southern voters.

“Some in my party want to duck the values debate,” Edwards said in a recent speech. “They want to say to America, ‘We’re not interested in your values; we want to change the subject to anything else.’ That’s wrong,” he said. “You can’t tell voters what to believe or what to vote on. Where I come from, voters are looking for answers, not attitude.”

Although Edwards has expressed strong support for gay civil rights issues, his latest comments on “values” could be seen as a coded message, distancing himself from gay rights as the campaign approaches the Southern primaries. Most political observers say Edwards is scrambling to gain momentum in the South Carolina primary, where polls show Dean leading the pack by a close margin.

A loss in the Southern primaries would likely force Edwards to drop out of the race, political observers have said.

Edwards supports gay rights
Gay Democratic activist Paul Yandura, a White House aide during the Clinton administration and a consultant to the Edwards campaign on gay issues, said Edwards remains strongly committed to gay rights. He said Edwards’ statements on the “values debate” should not be construed as relating to gay rights.

“He has talked openly about his support for gay rights,” Yandura said, noting that Edwards released a statement expressing support for gay relationships at the time the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in favor of marriage rights for gays. Edwards, like Dean and the other major Democratic candidates, also reiterated his opposition to gay marriage at that time.

Yandura said Edwards also put out a strong statement denouncing the anti-gay minister, Rev. Fred Phelps, for proposing a monument in Wyoming proclaiming that slain gay student Matthew Shepard had descended to hell.

Edwards’s campaign press spokesperson could not be reached by press time.

Jeff Trammell, a consultant to the Gore for president campaign in 2000 on gay issues, noted that former Clinton administration political director Nick Baldick now serves as the Edwards campaign manager. Trammell said Baldick has been a strong supporter of gay rights.

“It would surprise me greatly if the Edwards people did that,” said Trammell, referring to speculation that the campaign might be attempting to distance itself from gay issues.

“I think it would be counterproductive for any of the candidates to do that,” Trammell said.

Hastings Wyman, the gay editor and publisher of Southern Political Report, an authoritative newsletter on politics in the South, said Dean’s efforts to shift the debate in the South from social to economic issues makes sense for Dean and the Democratic Party. But Wyman said he doubts such a strategy will work because most Southern voters, especially the region’s majority Republican electorate, isn’t likely to change its mind on “values” issues.

A lesbian member of the Democratic National Committee from Washington, D.C., said some gay supporters of candidate trong>John Kerry and several of the other candidates are shifting their support to Howard Dean in an effort to build a unified effort to help Dean quickly capture the nomination. (AP photo)

“In the general election, I think Edwards is right,” said Wyman, who added that he doesn’t think Edwards is attempting to distance himself from gays as much as remind Southern voters of his own beliefs and values.

“Yet Edwards may not get too far with this argument, either,” Wyman said. “The Republicans are in the majority in the South. Right now, Edwards loses to Bush in the South in every poll.”

Added Wyman, “I think they are really debating angels on the head of a pin. Neither Edwards or Dean can carry the South in the general election under the circumstances that exist now.”

Pack attacks the leader
Mariam Saez, a lesbian and member of the Democratic National Committee from Washington, D.C. and a Dean campaign organizer, said she agrees with Yandura that Edwards’s criticism ...