Professor Bainbridge agrees:

[C]onstantly calling John Edwards a trial lawyer may not directly change a lot of votes; indeed, I’ll concede that in some places (Madison County, Illinois?) it’ll probably help the Dems. But here’s what Reynolds et. al are missing: John Trial Lawyer Edwards is going to re-energize key segments of the GOP base who might otherwise have wavered. Doctors. Small business owners. The US Chamber of Commerce. The Business Roundtable and the National Association of Manufacturers. All part of Bush’s base, but all wavering due to Bush’s free spending ways, Iraq worries, the economy, etc. All of those folks, however, have a deep animosity towards trial lawyers. The prospect of having a trial lawyer one heart beat from the Presidency will re-energize them to contribute to Bush, the RNC, and the emerging pro-Bush 527s. If Bush makes real tort reform and class action litigation reform campaign issues, they’ll do even more for Bush.