Campaign '04: Gay Politics: Who Gets to Talk About Mary Cheney?

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John Edwards' wife Elizabeth had another theory to explain Lynne Cheney's reaction. "I think that it indicates a certain degree of shame with respect to her daughter's sexual preferences," Edwards said in an ABC radio interview. But there's no evidence that the Cheneys have treated their daughter with shame. After the vice-presidential debate, Mary and Heather both went up on stage with the rest of the family while the TV cameras were still rolling. Later Kerry said that he had meant to hail the Cheneys as an example of "the way strong families deal with this issue," though he had said nothing about the family.

Meanwhile, Mary Cheney sits quietly at the center of the storm, friends say. She has told them, according to one, "that she doesn't want to be the poster girl for anybody else's causes."--By Matthew Cooper