Elizabeth Edwards Calls Out Coulter

Elizabeth Edwards tried to coax conservative hellcat Ann Coulter into toning down the personal attacks on political candidates yesterday, calling in to "Hardball with Chris Matthews" while Coulter was on. Edwards entreated Coulter to cut the character assassination and focus on issues. Coulter shot back that Edwards' call was obviously a fund-raising stunt.

The exchange was prompted by a comment, a day earlier, from Coulter that if  she was going to say anything about John Edwards in the future she'd "wish he'd been killed in a terror assassination plot."  Edwards criticized Coulter's "hatefulness and ugliness," which drew applause from the crowd. To which Coulter responded: "The wife of a presidential candidate is asking me to stop speaking. No." (More Ann Coulter stories.)