Southern Charm
John Edwards' southern charm has won over voters -- and donors
By Steven Weiss
July 06, 2004 | During his recent run for president, John Edwards received wide recognition for energizing voters on the campaign trail, a skill honed during his career as a successful trial lawyer in North Carolina. That ability also made Edwards, who withdrew from the presidential race in March, a prodigious fundraiser.
Edwards, who was selected today as John Kerry’s running mate on the Democratic ticket, raised $33.1 million for his presidential campaign through May 31. He has collected $5.5 million in his Senate campaign account since 1997, a total that does not include $6.15 million in personal funds that helped him to win his 1998 Senate race against incumbent Sen. Lauch Faircloth (R).
For his career as a federal candidate, Edwards has raised far more money from lawyers and law firms than from any other industry. The $11.6 million he has collected from the legal profession – a total heavily boosted by money from trial lawyers – is more than 10 times the amount raised from his No. 2 industry, comprised of individuals classifying themselves as retired, and more than 20 times what he has raised from his No. 3 industry, securities and investment firms.
Edwards’ top contributor since he entered federal politics is the Los Angeles firm of Girardi & Keese, whose employees have donated a total of nearly $158,000 to his presidential and Senate campaign accounts. Second on his top contributor list is Goldman Sachs, the investment giant, with $136,000 in individual contributions.
Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, a law firm based in Montgomery, Ala., is third in total contributions to Edwards with slightly more than $117,000 in individual donations. Fourth is the Dallas-based firm of Baron & Budd, with just under $117,000 from employees. Fred Baron, the firm’s principal, was chief fundraiser for the Edwards presidential campaign and began raising money for John Kerry after Edwards dropped out of the race.
Sixteen of Edwards’ top 20 contributors are law firms.
Edwards also has proved successful at raising money for his leadership political action committee, New American Optimists. Established in August 2001, New American Optimists raised more than $6 million in individual, PAC and soft money contributions during the 2002 election cycle. The legal profession accounted for $4.1 million of the total.
The biggest contributor to New American Optimists, however, is not a lawyer. It is Steve Bing, a major Democratic donor who runs the movie studio Shangri-La Entertainment. Bing gave $905,000 – all but $5,000 of it in soft money – to New American Optimists in the 2002 cycle.
Edwards showed during his presidential campaign that he could raise money in areas beyond the South. He raised more money in California ($2.7 million) than in any other state. He took in $2.1 million in Texas, President Bush’s home state, and $2 million in New York.
He collected $557,000 in Pennsylvania, and raised at least $230,000 in Michigan, Ohio and Washington state. All four are considered "battleground" states that will be critical to both parties in the November presidential election.
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