Democratic presidential contender John Edwards hopes to make some quick campaign cash off a conservative columnist's slur.

• Survey: Did Ann Coulter Go Too Far?

Ann Coulter made the comment Friday while speaking to GOP activists attending the annual Conservative Political Action Conference.

"I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, but it turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word 'faggot,' so I -- so kind of an impasse, can't really talk about Edwards. So I think I'll just conclude here and take your questions," Coulter said.

At first her audience seemed shocked, but then many started to clap.

Democrats were quick to condemn her remark.

Howard Dean, the Democratic National Committee chairman, called on Republican presidential contenders to denounce the "hate-filled" comment.

"Republicans including the Republican presidential candidates who shared the podium with Ann Coulter today should denounce her hateful remarks," said Dean in a press release.

Edwards' campaign sent an e-mail to supporters calling the comment a "shameless display of bigotry." It asked supporters to help raise $100,000 in what it calls "Coulter Cash" to show Edwards can't be intimidated by such attacks.

Edwards' Web site said, "We must show that inflaming prejudice to attack progressive leaders will only backfire."

Bloggers spread the news of the slur far and wide on the Internet. It wasn't long before three of the best-known Republican presidential hopefuls also condemned Coulter.

Sen. John McCain, of Arizona; former mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, of New York; and Mitt Romney, of Massachusetts spoke against her remarks.

"The comments were wildly inappropriate," McCain's spokesman, Brian Jones, said, according to the New York Times.

The Times reported that Giuliani said, "The comments were completely inappropriate and there should be no place for such name-calling in political debate."

Romney also spoke at the event, where he jokingly told the crowd Coulter was a "moderate." But he did later denounce the remarks.

"It was an offensive remark. Gov. Romney believes all people should be treated with dignity and respect," Kevin Madden, a spokesman for Mr. Romney, told the Times.

During her speech, Coulter said she was likely to support Romney.

Coulter is the same person who called outspoken 9/11 widows "self-obsessed," saying they enjoyed their husbands' deaths.

Coulter wrote in her book, "Godless: The Church of Liberalism," that a group of New Jersey widows whose husbands died in the World Trade Center act "as if the terrorist attacks happened only to them."

She also wrote, "I've never seen people enjoying their husbands' deaths so much."