Washington ? Dick Cheney and his wife say they are angry at John Kerry for invoking their lesbian daughter during the final presidential debate. Kerry says he was just trying to say something nice about how the Cheneys have dealt with the issue and meant no offense.

Temperatures have risen sharply since the vice presidential debate, just last week, when Democrat Sen. John Edwards mentioned Mary Cheney and the Republican vice president thanked him for his “kind words.”

This time, a back-and-forth ensued that had the vice president’s wife, Lynne Cheney, accusing Sen. Kerry of a “cheap and tawdry political trick” and Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Kerry’s running mate, suggesting Mrs. Cheney was ashamed of her daughter.

During Wednesday night’s debate with President Bush, Kerry referred to Mary Cheney when asked whether homosexuality is a choice.

“We’re all God’s children,” he said. “And I think if you were to talk to Dick Cheney’s daughter, who is a lesbian, she would tell you that she’s being who she was. She’s being who she was born as. I think if you talk to anybody, it’s not a choice.”

Bush said he didn’t know if it was a choice or not. But no one was talking about that Thursday.

Kerry’s defenders said he was well within bounds, particularly given that Cheney has also talked about his daughter when discussing gay issues.

But both the vice president and his wife went after Kerry with strong words.

“You saw a man who will do and say anything to get elected,” Cheney said at a rally in Fort Myers, Fla. “And I am not just speaking as a father here, although I am a pretty angry father.”

He told a local TV station: “I thought it was totally inappropriate.”

Mrs. Cheney was even sharper as she denounced Kerry after a debate party Wednesday night in the Pittsburgh suburb of Coraopolis, Pa.

“This is not a good man,” she said. “Of course, I am speaking as a mom, and a pretty indignant mom. This is not a good man. What a cheap and tawdry political trick.”

A campaign spokeswoman said Mary Cheney declined to comment.

The communications director for Bush-Cheney, Nicolle Devenish, said Kerry miscalculated the effect of his remarks and now was “backpedaling from what is a crass, below-the-belt political strategy to attack the vice president’s daughter.”

Kerry responded Thursday that he did not mean to offend anyone.

“I love my daughters. They love their daughter. I was trying to say something positive about the way strong families deal with the issue,” he said in a statement.

Edwards defended his running mate, saying the subject was clearly fair game. “Dick Cheney and his wife, Lynne, had themselves brought it up,” he said on MSNBC.

Edwards’ wife, Elizabeth, was harsher, suggesting that while Mrs. Cheney has been “a wonderful advocate” for her daughter, she also might be ashamed of her.

“She’s overreacted to this and treated it as if it’s shameful to have this discussion. I think that’s a very sad state of affairs,” she told ABC radio. “I think that it indicates a certain amount of shame with respect to her daughter’s sexual preferences.”