John Edwards’ campaign might be struggling to remain viable, but he is virtually guaranteed to continue to have the necessary money to keep going. Besides a surprising number of bloggers, there is another group which will continue to back him heavily–his fellow trial lawyers. It is only the contributions from attorneys which have kept Edwards’ contributions above those of candidates such as Bill Richardson and Chris Dodd.
AP reports that over half of those contributing to Edwards are attorneys, and that attorneys have contributed seven times more than any other profession. In comparison, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have raised 15 percent and 18 percent respectively from attorneys. In 1994 Edwards received 55 percent of his contributions from attorneys.
While the large amount of contributions from attorneys is currently allowing Edwards to remain ahead of more qualified candidates such as Richardson and Dodd, having his support concentrated in one area could ultimately be damaging to his campaign. While Bill Richardson has been gradually increasing his number of supporters and improving in the polls, Edwards has been unable to increase his base of supporters and has even been declining in the polls.
“If you aren’t drawing new contributors, the chances are you’re not drawing new voters,” said Democratic pollster Peter Hart. “To the degree that Edwards’ base remains very refined and coming from one part of the community, he’ll probably find the election ahead very challenging.”
