Edwards, Clinton Make Hay in the Colorado Sunshine

The watchdog group OpenSecrets.Org says, according to their analysis, “lawyers and employees of the nation’s top investment firms are the biggest underwriters of the 2008 presidential campaign.” While not a lot money from investment firms appears to have filtered through Colorado, the state’s law firms have been active in supporting Democratic candidates.

North Carolina’s John Edwards raised the third largest sum of money from Coloradans during this cycle, and he was especially a hit with lawyers. Of the $77,850 he got, $19,875 came from individuals identified with law firms, about 26 percent of his total. No other interest group even registers on the Edwards radar.Edwards did a little better than other candidates in spreading his fundraising out around the state. He got about $26,000 from Denver proper, another $14,000 from the suburbs and about $15,000 from Boulder-based donors. He got about $22,000 from elsewhere in the state, about 22 percent of his total.

Hillary Clinton, the national favorite for the nomination, paid little attention to Colorado during this cycle, so didn’t raise as much money as her leading competitors. She got $73,935 from 96 donations. Nearly half that total, just under $36,000, came form Denver proper, and another $13,000 from the surrounding suburbs. She got $14,000 from Boulder.

Clinton was also popular with attorneys, bringing in about $11,000 from people associated with law firms. Clinton’s most prominent Denver supporter is former Mayor Wellington Webb.

Delaware Senator Joseph Biden raised $10,600 from Colorado, only $1,000 of which came from a single Denver-based contribution. $5,100 came from Boulder. He raise $5,600 from attorneys, $3,300 from individuals associated with law firm Brownstein, Hyatt, Farber Schreck.

Sen. Christopher Dodd raised $44,450 in Colorado, virtually all of it form the Denver metro area. Dodd’s Colorado fundraising was originally reported as a total of $47,000, but his Federal Election Commission campaign reports inadvertently included contributions that originated in Connecticut, not Colorado. Dodd’s campaign contributions are unusual among Colorado fundraisers in that he received relatively little money from attorneys. His largest contributors were from other private sector interests, financial and real estate. Former Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Tom Strickland, who also donated to Bill Richardson’ campaign, gave Dodd $1,000.

Dennis Kucinich raised $3,618 from three individual contributors, two in Evergreen and one in Denver. The other announced candidate, Mike Gravel of Alaska, showed no money raised in Colorado over this cycle.

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