As part of their daily tracking poll, the Washington Post added a question about John Kerry's controversial reference to Mary Cheney, Dick Cheney's daughter, in a question about homosexuality. The Post reports that likely voters overwhelmingly disapproved, even the morning after the debate, before the controversey broke out to the mainstream press:

An overwhelming majority of voters believe it was wrong for Democratic nominee John F. Kerry to have mentioned in Wednesday's presidential debate that Vice President Cheney's daughter was a lesbian, according to the latest Washington Post tracking survey.

Nearly two in three likely voters -- 64 percent -- said Kerry's comment was "inappropriate," including more than four in 10 of his own supporters and half of all swing voters. A third -- 33 percent -- thought the remark was appropriate.

Even more inappropriate was the comment by John Edwards' wife, who said she felt that the Cheneys were ashamed of their daughter, but the Post didn't ask that question. If these numbers hold up, especially among swing voters and his own supporters, Kerry did tremendous damage to his momentum with this stupid and superfluous remark.

Hugh Hewitt is holding a symposium on this topic at his website this weekend, and many bloggers have responded to his call already. My beef with Kerry's reference is that he has no standing to use Mary Cheney as an object for his own political purposes. Who is Mary Cheney to Kerry -- a friend? a colleague? a family member? No. Mary Cheney is a complete stranger to John Kerry, and even more of a stranger to the Edwardses. To arrogate her to their argument reeks of Kerry's self-serving nature, and he has earned the embarassment this will surely bring.

Expect this to dominate the weekend political news, kneecapping what the Kerry/Edwards campaign hoped to use as a launch towards Election Day. I told you that Kerry lost that debate; this shows how badly he blew it.

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Tracked on October 16, 2004 9:44 AM