Democrats cautioned on faith

Democrats who invoke God’s name on the campaign trail will be seen as politicians pandering for votes, says failed vice presidential candidate John Edwards.

The North Carolina Democrat said he wanted more opportunities to discuss his relationship with God while campaigning with presidential running mate Sen. John Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat.

“It’s everything to me,” Mr. Edwards said of his faith and family yesterday on ABC’s “This Week.”

Faith and values ranked as the number one reason among voters in the Nov. 2 election for voting Republican. But as the Democratic Party embarks on an new identity search, he warned that God talk is not the solution.

“I don’t believe the answer for us going forward is to invoke the Lord’s name 55 times in a speech. First of all, I think it looks political. It looks like you’re just moving around for politics’ sake. I think people want to know who you are and what you’re made of,” Mr. Edwards said.

The one-term senator said faith in God guides his politics, adding, “My relationship with the Lord is enormously important to me, not just then, but all the time.”

“The most important thing for me is to make clear what it is I believe in, what my convictions are, and what my core set of principles are going forward,” he said.

Mr. Edwards declined to say whether he will seek the presidency in 2008, saying it will depend on the health of his wife, Elizabeth, who has breast cancer.

“I’ll decide what’s the right thing to do based on what’s going on with my own family,” he said.

However, Mr. Edwards said the next president should have “strength, [a] clear idea of who you are, clear idea of where you believe the country needs to go, and how to get there” and noted that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, New York Democrat, possesses those qualities.

Mrs. Clinton’s fan club on yesterday’s Sunday talk shows didn’t stop with Democratic endorsements. Former Republican presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain of Arizona told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the former first lady would make a good commander in chief.

“I am sure that Senator Clinton would make a good president,” Mr. McCain said. “I happen to be a Republican and would support, obviously, a Republican nominee, but I have no doubt that Senator Clinton would make a good president.”

Mrs. Clinton responded that she “absolutely” thought Mr. McCain would make a good president, prompting host Tim Russert to suggest a “fusion ticket.”

“We’re both in trouble,” Mr. McCain responded, laughing.

Earlier this month, a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll showed 40 percent support among Democrats for Mrs. Clinton, 25 percent for Massachusetts Democratic Sen. John Kerry and 18 percent for Mr. Edwards.

Democrats are speculating that Mrs. Clinton is repositioning herself as a centrist rather than a far-left candidate and point to legislation that she is co-sponsoring with conservative Republicans such as Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, to give military reservists 100 percent government health care coverage.

“Senator Clinton and I represent different spectrums of political ideology on many occasions, but we have [guardsmen] and reservists … who are making up about 40 percent of this operation,” Mr. Graham said yesterday on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” referring to the Iraq war.