Edwards's Wife Asks Coulter To Stop ‘Attacks'

RALEIGH, N.C. — Elizabeth Edwards pleaded yesterday with Ann Coulter to "stop the personal attacks," a day after the conservative commentator said she wished Ms. Edwards's husband, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, had been killed by terrorists.

"The things she has said over the years, not just about John but about other candidates, lowers the political dialogue at precisely the time we need to raise it," Ms. Edwards said by phone on MSNBC's "Hardball" program, where Ms. Coulter was a guest.

Elizabeth Edwards said she did not consult her husband before confronting Ms. Coulter on the air, adding that she felt the pundit's remarks were "a dialogue on hatefulness and ugliness."

"It debases political dialogue," Ms. Edwards said. "It drives people away from the process. We can't have a debate about issues if you're using this kind of language."

"If I'm going to say anything about John Edwards in the future, I'll just wish he had been killed in a terrorist assassination plot," Ms. Coulter said Monday, picking up on remarks made by HBO's Bill Maher.

Mr. Maher suggested in March that "people wouldn't be dying needlessly" if Vice President Cheney had been killed in an insurgent attack in Afghanistan.