Blog Backlash Hits Edwards

The rise of the blog as a tool of presidential candidates has provoked the first backlash of the 2008 contest with two staff of the Democrat hopeful John Edwards resigning under rightwing and religious pressure.

Amanda Marcotte, employed as Mr Edwards's "blogmaster" to write his official blog, and Melissa McEwan, a part-time technical adviser, said they wished to spare the candidate further damage.

Ms Marcotte's personal blog, Pandagon, came under fire from the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, a nationwide group that attacks what it considers to be liberal anti-religious bias. It called her a "foul-mouthed anti-Christian bigot", pointing to entries where she accused the church of sanctioning the practice of lying to young couples about birth control and calling God a "sadistic bastard".

Ms McEwan came under fire for her blog, Shakespeare's Sister, for labelling President Bush's religious supporters his "wingnut Christofascist base".

Ms Marcotte said she had suffered a "scorched earth campaign" by the president of the Catholic group, Bill Donohue. "If I can't do the job I was hired to do because Bill Donohue doesn't have anything better to do than harass me, then I won't do it."

Mr Edwards lags behind Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in polls but is ranked the most popular candidate by bloggers.

Mr Donohue said he did not have a vendetta against Mr Edwards but "candidates must be more careful about vetting the bloggers they hire".