When Democrat John Edwards and Republican Rudy Giuliani abandoned their presidential bids on Wednesday, their exits marked the beginning of an open season on the supporters who had helped them raise a combined $100 million last year.

Edwards' finance team splintered in a matter of hours, with both Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton in hot pursuit of Edwards' top fundraisers.

For Giuliani backers, the shock of his collapse was still sinking in. Many of the former mayor's supporters were convinced that Giuliani would surprise the political establishment with a win in Florida and set off toward the nomination from there.

To Edwards confidants, by contrast, signs of his campaign's imminent disintegration had been evident for weeks. At last weekend's winter conference of trial lawyers, many of whom were loyal supporters for years, there was open discussion about when Edwards would give up his bid. And top finance officials from both the Clinton and Obama efforts worked feverishly to recruit his supporters.

Wednesday, the finance operations of both Clinton and Obama shifted gears. Clinton's campaign sent out an e-mail providing a list of scores of women who had been backing Edwards, and asking her supporters to contact them.

On the Republican side, the outreach to Giuliani supporters by aides to John McCain and Mitt Romney has been less organized.

But the urgency of finding new donors for the candidates still standing cannot be understated. With contests in more than 20 states, including primaries in some of the nation's most costly media markets, the candidates' needs before next week's Super Tuesday are enormous.