In letter to Washburne, Lincoln sums up situation in legislature as it affects his candidacy. "I understand myself as having 26 committals; and I do not think any other one man has ten." But "I do not know that it is much advantage to have the largest number of votes at the start." Lincoln and B. S. Edwards write legal opinion regarding settlement of estates of Joseph Smith and James Bradford. Abraham Lincoln to Elihu B. Washburne, 6 December [January] 1855, CW, 2:303-4; Opinion Concerning the Estates of Joseph Smith and James M. Bradford, 6 January 1855, CW, 2:301-3.