John Edwards’s supporters are flocking to Sen. Obama

Donors, activists and members of Congress who backed former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) are flocking to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).

This and the fact that Obama is likely to win the North Carolina primary could prompt Edwards to endorse Obama — a move that could burnish the front-runner’s credentials with blue-collar, white voters, who are part of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s (D-N.Y.) base.

{mosads}Since Edwards dropped out of the presidential race, Obama’s campaign has received contributions of $200 or more from 1,089  donors who had supported Edwards, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records.

Only 393 Edwards donors have given to Clinton since the primary became a two-candidate race. Since Edwards withdrew on Jan. 30, Obama has raised nearly $1 million from Edwards donors, compared to the $427,000 that has flowed to Clinton.

The strong bias among Edwards’s supporters prompts Obama’s allies to hope for an endorsement by the former candidate that could help him in big states, such as Ohio and Pennsylvania, that were won by Clinton.  

“John Edwards understands the need to change the direction of this country; I would hope that he would make an endorsement to bring closure to the nominating process,” said Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), who first endorsed Edwards but then joined Obama’s camp.

The day before Edwards dropped out, his campaign floated the idea that he could play kingmaker in the primary.

His deputy campaign manager, Jonathan Prince, predicted that Edwards’s haul of delegates could tip the nomination one way or the other.

As it turned out, Edwards quit before he could accumulate a significant number of delegates, but he could still prove influential by swaying white working-class voters slow to embrace Obama.

“Edwards has enormous appeal to working-class, white voters,” Butterfield said. “His endorsement would be a tremendous benefit to the Obama campaign.”

Edwards, a trial lawyer by profession, sought during his campaign to appeal to working-class and union voters, repeatedly citing his father’s work in a mill. He spoke in favor of policies that would redistribute wealth to poorer Americans.

Butterfield is one of nine congressional Democrats who have endorsed Obama after first backing Edwards.

The others are Reps. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (S.D.), Charles Gonzalez (Texas), Raúl Grijalva (Ariz.), Eddie Bernice Johnson (Texas), Jim Oberstar (Minn.), David Obey (Wis.), David Price (N.C.) and Mel Watt (N.C.).

Not one of Edwards’s backers in Congress has endorsed Clinton.

Clinton campaign aides did not respond to requests for comment.

Several members of Edwards’s political circle announced their allegiance to Obama on Wednesday. Ed Turlington, who served as chairman of Edwards’s 2004 presidential campaign and as a senior adviser to his most recent White House bid, was one of them.   

“I had thought that after Sen. Edwards dropped out I would stay on the sidelines,” said Turlington, “but the more I watched the race and talked to Sen. Obama, I became persuaded to endorse him.

“First of all, I think [Obama] is talking about many of the key economic issues Sen. Edwards talked about in his campaign.”

Obama flew to Chapel Hill, N.C., in February to meet Edwards and his wife in hope of winning an endorsement. But Edwards has not yet dropped any hints about whether he will back either candidate before the party convention in Denver at the end of August.

Turlington said he spoke to Edwards about the race several days ago and told him he would support Obama.

“He noted it and we talked about a number of things about the race,” said Turlington. “He admires and respects Obama.”

Yet Turlington said he does not know if Edwards will pick a side.

John Moylan, one of Edwards’s closest friends, cautioned that Edwards might not weigh in despite the trend among his former supporters.

“Sen. Edwards has given no indication that he will be endorsing one candidate over the other and I would be somewhat surprised if that were to happen,” said Moylan. “I have not endorsed a candidate but would almost certainly follow Sen. Edwards’s lead on that front.”

Michael Ward, an attorney at the law firm of Alston and Bird in Washington, D.C., who donated to Edwards’s campaign, gave $1,300 to Obama at the end of February. “I think Obama’s the strongest candidate and I want to field the strongest candidate,” said Ward, who has not given to Clinton.

Ward said Clinton has “too much baggage, and too many political negatives,” referring to her high unfavorability rating in polls.

Clinton received more than a thousand contributions from Edwards donors before he dropped out of the race, and she was still considered the likely Democratic presidential front-runner. Since his departure, Clinton has garnered about 600 contributions from Edwards supporters.

Since Jan. 30, Obama has received more than 1,800 contributions from Edwards donors, more than three times as many as Clinton.  

Dan Hayner and Michael Lemaire contributed to this report.

 Political contributions from Former Sen. John Edwards Donors (PDF)