Abraham's bold intercession in Genesis 18:22-33 is recognized as one of the great prayers of the Bible. Acting as a counsel for the defense in the trial of Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham asked God to consider sparing the cities of the plain if a sufficient number of loyal followers of God were there.
Walter Kaiser points out that Genesis 18:22 contains one of eighteen places in the Tanakh where scribes deliberately altered the Hebrew text for theological reasons. The MT says that Abraham "still stood before the Lord," while the original text said that the Lord stood before Abraham. The original wording may suggest God's openness and willingness to be "put on trial" by Abraham. Abraham, trusting both in God's justice and God's mercy, asked rhetorically in verse 25, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?"
After God agreed that he would spare the cities if there were as many as ten righteous people there, the defense rested. Abraham left the matter in the hands of the righteous judge.
A reason for Abraham to request that the cities be spared is the fact that a righteous remnant can transform a culture. We see this later in history, when the early Christians, a minority in the pagan Roman Empire, transformed that culture over the course of several centuries. Peter in 1 Peter 2-3 instructed early Christians in Asia Minor in ways to do that in their circumstances.
In the case of the cities of the plain, there just weren't enough righteous people present to salvage those towns. Lot was there, but he doesn't seem to have had any help.
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