Campaign Trail Results: Game #1177285

This Game:

  • Year: 1896
  • Player Candidate: William McKinley
  • Running Mate: Garret Hobart
  • Difficulty Level: Normal
  • Winner Take All Mode?: No
  • Game Played:
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View overall results, or a specific state:
CandidateElectoral VotesPopular VotesPop. Vote %
---- William Jennings Bryan2326,719,07448.14
---- William McKinley2157,086,59650.78
---- John Palmer0151,1771.08

Answers:

  • Which of the following will be your primary campaign message?
    I am the candidate who brings the reasonable, tested ideas of sound money, protection, and prosperity. Bryan on the other hand will usher in radicalism and instability.
  • What points do you wish to touch upon as you accept the Republican nomination? A written transcript will be transmitted to voters across the country.
    Democrats who believe in the gold standard are welcome in our party. We will increase tariffs, to be sure, but in a moderate way that addresses their concerns.
  • Bryan's nomination has electrified the western voter, and he is now planning to campaign on the rails, six days a week. Will you break precedent as well and make a speaking tour of the nation?
    There's no way I can compete with Bryan's oratorical talents. Instead, I will receive groups of visitors at my home in Canton, Ohio. We have the financing to pay for these visits, and anyone who shows up will receive a free sandwich while I deliver a speech.
  • You have received checks for $250,000 from J.P. Morgan and from Standard Oil, not to mention innumerable contributions from other concerned businessmen. How will you exploit this immense advantage in funding that you have?
    We will print and mail campaign material in massive quantities. We will hire speakers to blanket the four corners of the nation. We will print ads every day in every major paper. Bryan cannot compete with us on money.
  • You have the support of the important newspapers, and they are willing to accept your guidance on the proper campaign message. What do you want them to print?
    The big newspapers should remind the voters that I represent a return to prosperity after the Democratic disaster of the previous four years. They should be paying as little attention to Bryan as possible.
  • The West Coast is a very competitive region. Can you make the case for Republican policies there, particularly in those places such as San Francisco which rely on foreign trade?
    Much of California's livelihood comes from gold mining. I reject any call to undermine gold through the free coinage of silver.
  • Some of the border states (Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky) are very close this year. Do you have a strategy to make these states jump to the Republican side?
    As a Civil War veteran, I am uniquely positioned to preach a message of sectional unity and Americanism. These states must know that we have allowed bygones to be bygones.
  • Will you send campaigners to Nebraska, in an attempt to deliver an embarrassing defeat to Bryan, or should those resources be focused on South Dakota, Wyoming, and Iowa?
    We are running a 45-state strategy. I want our victory and repudiation of the silver Democrats to be as large as possible.
  • Another day. Another speech from your front porch. What will it be today?
    Let's talk about the importance of reviving American business. Our tariff act will give them the protections they need to succeed.
  • There is one week left until election day. Every state is important, but where will you give an extra push with what is left of your financial resources to educate the American voters?
    Let's continue to focus on the Midwest. Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, etc.
  • Can you state your definitive position on the American monetary system?
    I support a strict adherence to the gold standard, which is fundamental to American prosperity.
  • What is your definitive position on the tariff issue?
    We need high tariffs on a variety of products and commodities to stimulate American manufacturing.
  • The United States is in the midst of a financial calamity, with masses of unemployed men on the streets. What will you do to revive business in this country?
    I can't stress this enough. The most important thing we can do right now is increase our tariffs to protect American business.
  • Grover Cleveland sent federal troops to Illinois to end the Pullman Strike without the request of Governor Altgeld. Was this an overreach on his part?
    This was the act of a tyrant. Pullman was engaged in abominable business practices, and in the darkest hour Cleveland cast his lot with the company over the working man.
  • What is your opinion on measures that would aim to restrict the sale or production of alcohol?
    These measures are a step in the right direction. Nothing destroys so many lives in this country as does the pernicious habit of drinking alcohol.
  • What is your position on Rural Free Delivery of the mail, signed into law earlier this year by Grover Cleveland? Is this an acceptable strain to place on the finances of the Post Office?
    It's a shame that this policy wasn't implemented decades ago. For too long, rural Americans have been forced to travel up to thirty miles to retrieve the mail they are entitled to.
  • The federal deficit has recently increased after two decades of steady decline. What are your thoughts on this?
    Once we reinstitute our tariffs, this deficit will disappear. Best of all, the lion's share of these taxes will be paid by foreign merchants.
  • What are your views on the Darwinian theory of Evolution?
    I have no comment to make on Darwinism. This is completely irrelevant to my expected duties as President of the United States.
  • In Pollock v. Farmers' Loan and Trust Co. the Supreme Court ruled that a 2% income tax contained in the Wilson-Gorman Tariff was unconstitutional. Would you support a Constitutional Amendment allowing the federal government to collect an income tax?
    Good for the Supreme Court for taking a firm, principled stand on this issue. Increased tariffs will be more than sufficient to cover the funding needs of our federal government.
  • In United States v. E.C. Knight and Co. the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government cannot regulate manufacturing monopolies under the Commerce Clause. Would you support an Amendment to the Constitution to overturn this ruling?
    This decision undermines our antitrust legislation and speeds our descent into oligarchy. It must be rectified with an Amendment.
  • In general, is the Supreme Court too obstructionist in their rulings on economic issues? Would you appoint judges who would bring a new perspective to these issues?
    Absolutely. I will appoint sensible, assertive judges as President. The purpose of the Court is not to simply overturn half of the laws passed by Congress, on picayune Constitutional objections.
  • Are you prepared to reaffirm our commitment to the Monroe Doctrine, should any new territories in Latin America gain independence from Spain?
    I support the Monroe Doctrine as established American policy.
  • Do you believe that the federal government should monitor and improve important waterways in the interests of commerce, such as the Mississippi River?
    Internal areas of the country have the same rights to use our waterways as the coastal regions. Making the Mississippi more navigable and more flood-resistant could prove to be an economic windfall.
  • Should the federal government make an effort to build a canal through Nicaragua to more efficiently link trade in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans?
    I envision an American canal, built by American workers, property of the American government, supporting the actions of a robust American Navy. I fully support these plans.
  • Is it generally appropriate for federal courts to issue injunctions against striking unions?
    Maybe in limited cases, where unions are a threat to public safety or where they undermine an essential industry. The courts are notoriously conservative, however, and definitely take this practice too far.