Edwards Campaign Press Release - Edwards Campaign Reports Record-Breaking Contributions Online

Strong finish in Iowa attracts thousands of first-time donors, putting campaign on track for best online fundraising day to date

Chapel Hill, North Carolina – Following a strong second-place finish in the Iowa Caucuses last night, the John Edwards for President campaign announced record-breaking online fundraising totals, putting the campaign on track for its best online fundraising day to date.

"We have been absolutely overwhelmed by the response to Sen. Edwards' strong finish in Iowa," said Edwards' senior strategist Joe Trippi. "We're on track for our best online fundraising day ever, since www.JohnEdwards.com went up a year ago – and half of the contributions we're seeing are from new donors to the campaign. That speaks volumes to the strength of John Edwards' message of standing up and fighting for the middle class."

The campaign first saw an uptick in online fundraising late last night, as the results from Iowa's first-in-the-nation contest began rolling in. The surge continued overnight, and by 8:45am ET this morning the campaign's online contributions had already topped the previous day's day-long total. Between the hours of 10:00am and 11:00am ET today, the campaign experienced its best online fundraising hour ever.

Also noteworthy about Edwards' online fundraising totals today:

• Half of those who have contributed are first-time donors to the campaign
• More than ninety percent (92.6%) of today's online contributions are for amounts less than $100

John Edwards is the only Democratic candidate in the race who has never accepted a dime from PACs or Washington lobbyists. The campaign also noted that the impact of many of today's online contributions will be doubled by federal matching funds.