Kerry and Edwards Pointed and Polite in Lively USC Debate

Sounding alternately like rivals and potential running mates, John Edwards and John F. Kerry sparred Thursday over values, trade policy and their commitment to reforming Washington in a lively debate where they accused President Bush of playing politics with the gay marriage issue.

Edwards mostly used humor and an affable manner to draw contrasts with the more staid front-runner in the Democratic presidential race. Kerry, in turn, sought to minimize their differences by repeatedly insisting there was little separation between them on most issues.

The two were asked about the touchy matter of same-sex marriage shortly after the start of the 90-minute session at the USC’s Bovard Auditorium. Both said that although they y opposed legalizing gay marriages, they also were against the constitutional amendment endorsed by President Bush that would ban them.

Edwards said no state should be forced to sanction a gay marriage recognized by another state. Kerry suggested the proposed amendment was unnecessary because “no state has to recognize something that is against [its] public policy.”

The candidates, who support civil unions for gays, charged that Bush was seeking to exploit for political gain the growing controversy over same-sex marriage.

“This is a president who always tries to create a cultural war and seek the lowest common denominator of American politics, because he can’t come to America and talk about jobs,” Kerry said. “He can’t talk about healthcare -- he doesn’t have a plan. He can’t talk to America about the environment, the legacy to our children, because he’s going backward.”

Edwards said, “This is clearly nothing but politics.”

Kerry was asked about his opposition to the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 law allowing states to refuse to honor same-sex marriages performed elsewhere. The Massachusetts senator offered a tangled response that sidestepped the question of whether he was still against it, given his current stance that states do not have to recognize gay marriages performed elsewhere.

Edwards took a swipe at Kerry for his convoluted answer. Crinkling his eyes and waving vaguely in Kerry’s direction, Edwards said, “I’m not sure what he said about that. But I would not vote for” the act.

The North Carolina senator was not in office when the measure passed.

Later, Kerry chided Edwards for declining to say -- after being repeatedly pressed -- whether he regretted his vote for the congressional resolution authorizing war with Iraq.

“You [were] asked a yes-or-no question: Do you regret your vote?” Kerry said.

For his part, Kerry said he did not regret his vote, even though he is now highly critical of the Bush administration’s failure to win broader international support for the war. “I regret that we have a president of the United States who misled America and broke every promise he made to the United States Congress” about steps he would take before attacking Iraq.

Joining Kerry and Edwards in the debate were the two other remaining contenders in the Democratic race, the Rev. Al Sharpton of New York and Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio. The forum, sponsored by the Los Angeles Times and CNN, had a free-flowing format, resulting in one of the fastest-paced, snappiest debates of the more than a dozen staged over the last year.

The session highlighted the main differences between the two leading contenders and their fight for their party’s nomination, with Kerry running mainly on his experience and depth of knowledge and Edwards relying more heavily on his likability and oratorical flair.

Some of their most substantive differences emerged on the death penalty -- which Edwards supports and Kerry favors only in cases of terrorism -- and a series of trade deals that Kerry backed and Edwards opposed.

Edwards also drew a sharp contrast by comparing his background -- a middle-class upbringing and single term in the Senate -- with Kerry’s more privileged youth and nearly 20 years on Capitol Hill.

“There’s a fundamental question here ... that has to be decided by voters in this country, Democratic primary voters, which is, first, do we need real change in America and real change in Washington, D.C.?” Edwards said. “Then the second question is, do you believe that change is more likely to be brought about by someone who has spent 20 years in Washington, or by someone who’s more of an outsider to this process, somebody who comes from the same place that most Americans come from?”

Edwards returned to the subject later, saying he had refused to take money from Washington lobbyists, in contrast with Kerry.

In one of the few times he fired back, Kerry noted that Edwards had collected roughly half his presidential campaign contributions from fellow trial lawyers, one of the nation’s most potent special interests. “I don’t ever suggest he’s beholden to them,” Kerry said.

The debate was the first since the exit of former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, who quit the race last week after a third-place finish in the Wisconsin primary. His departure turned the Democratic contest into a Kerry-Edwards battle, with Kucinich and Sharpton competing for whatever scraps of attention they can get.

There were far more areas of agreement than disagreement throughout the night, at least among the two main contestants for the nomination.

On several occasions, when Edwards was directly asked whether he was criticizing Kerry, he backed off. For instance, discussing his upbringing as the son of a mill worker in small-town South Carolina, he said, “I’ve seen the problems that people face every day in their lives.”

“And now you’re saying Sen. Kerry doesn’t see that?” asked the debate moderator, CNN talk-show host Larry King.

“I’m saying he comes from a different background,” Edwards said. “I mean, he’s a good man. He’s a good candidate. He’d make a good president. And I’d be the first to say that.”

Edwards was asked whether Kerry -- with his opposition to the death penalty and the Defense of Marriage Act -- could win votes in the South. “I think that’s his test to meet,” Edwards said. “I think it depends what’s happening at the moment. What I know is that I can.”

One of their few pointed exchanges came over trade.

“This is a place where this difference really matters,” said Edwards, who has campaigned across the industrial Midwest blaming unfair trade deals for the loss of hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs. He ticked off a series of trade compacts -- with Singapore, Chili and African nations -- that he opposed and Kerry approved. He cited his opposition to the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada as a candidate in his 1998 Senate race.

Kerry noted that Edwards recently told the New York Times “that he thought NAFTA was important for our prosperity. Now he’s claiming that he was against it and these other agreements.”

The debate came five days before the biggest test of the campaign season, the so-called Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses in 10 states, including California, New York and Ohio.

Kerry, the winner in 18 of the campaign’s first 20 contests, hopes to finish off Edwards’ candidacy by racking up big wins coast to coast. Edwards is hoping for victories in Ohio, Georgia and Minnesota and strong showings in California and elsewhere to build momentum for a string of Southern contests on March 9. Edwards’ sole victory of the primary season came in his native South Carolina.

With scant hope of winning anywhere Tuesday, Sharpton played the familiar role of provocateur, often aiming at Edwards.

The senator has made talk of two Americas -- one for the rich and privileged, the rest for everyone else -- a centerpiece of his campaign. Sharpton suggested that was overly simplistic. “I do not think that it is fair to say that there are two Americas,” Sharpton said. “There are many Americas.... He is right to say there is a difference in America. But we can’t limit it to just class. We’ve also got to deal with race. We’ve got to deal with gender. We’ve got to deal with sexuality.”

Sharpton made it clear that he intended to take his candidacy all the way to the Democratic National Convention this summer in Kerry’s hometown. “I’m going to be in Boston with delegates because I don’t want people just telling me who looks nice. I want us to have an America that treats everybody right,” Sharpton said.

Kucinich was asked why he was still in the race, given his distant finishes in virtually all of the contests so far. “Because I’m the voice for getting out of Iraq, for universal single-payer healthcare, for getting out of NAFTA and [the World Trade Organization],” he said. “In this race ... there are real differences of opinion.”

Asked a question on the minds of many Democrats -- whether they could be running mates -- Edwards responded with humor and Kerry with caution.

“I think an Edwards-Kerry ticket would be powerful,” Edwards said, smiling.

“I want to thank him for the consideration,” Kerry joked. Asked if Edwards was on his list of prospective ticket-mates, Kerry said, “I don’t have a list. I’m running for the nomination ... and when I win the nomination, if I do, then I’ll sit down and think about who I ought to run with.”

Joining King in questioning the candidates were Times staff writer Ronald Brownstein and editorial page editor Janet Clayton.