Shop Talk

What to make of this NY Times story about the Two Johns sniping at one another:

Mr. Edwards said that beyond trade, he would draw attention to other differences between the rivals, including “the fact that I don’t take contributions from Washington lobbyists.”

[snip]

Asked about the criticism, Mr. Kerry’s press secretary, Stephanie Cutter, responded, “This is an interesting line of attack from the positive campaign of John Edwards considering that his campaign is wholly funded by trial lawyers, which are widely recognized as special interests and lobbyists.” Mr. Edwards himself is a former trial lawyer.

Now, there’s no doubt Ms. Cutter’s charge is accurate; Edwards is, in fact, largely funded by trial lawyer contributions. That said, trial lawyers are a major, major player in Democratic Party fundraising, arguably second only to the unions.

I assume that Kerry still plans to win the nomination and run in the general election. Isn’t it a bit… short-sighted to have his press secretary complaining about a powerful constituency group? Isn’t he going to be asking those same people for money–big money–a few months from now?