Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards told a New Hampshire crowd that he would repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), according to a story in the Washington Times.

The story quoted Edwards as saying, “I think we should get rid of DOMA; I think DOMA was a mistake from the beginning, and discriminatory, and so I will do everything in my power as president to do that.”

Unclear from the statement was whether Edwards was referring to the entirety of DOMA, which both bans the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages and also purports to authorize states to refuse to recognize out-of-state marriages notwithstanding any recognition obligation that may exist under the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the Federal Constitution.

Edwards suggested that a solution was to have the federal government recognize civil unions, which suggests that Edwards may have had in mind only the part of DOMA banning federal recognition of same-sex marriages.