Campaign Trail Results: Game #24097

This Game:

  • Year: 1896
  • Player Candidate: William McKinley
  • Running Mate: Lyman Gage
  • Difficulty Level: Impossible
  • Winner Take All Mode?: Yes
  • Game Played:
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View overall results, or a specific state:
CandidateElectoral VotesPopular VotesPop. Vote %
---- William McKinley2847,158,51951.24
---- William Jennings Bryan1636,667,55647.73
---- John Palmer0143,7751.03

Answers:

  • Which of the following will be your primary campaign message?
    My campaign will reach out to workers across the American spectrum, while Bryan's policies will leave them defenseless against foreign competition and will debase their wages.
  • 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.
    I appreciate the faith of the American people and consult always with the Lord before I make my decisions. I will run a moderate, sensible agenda that appeals to the broad majority.
  • 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.
  • What do you have to say about William Jennings Bryan's campaign, at a high level?
    Free coinage of silver will debase our currency and make a mockery of us to the rest of the world.
  • 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?
    I can't attack Bryan like the papers can without losing some of my luster. Let them publish the defamatory cartoons and opinion pieces.
  • 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.
  • John Rockefeller is concerned about the possible effects of the Sherman Antitrust Act, passed in 1890. It seems that certain rabble-rousers believe this law should be used to break up Standard Oil. Can you reassure him that you will take a narrow interpretation of this law in your Administration?
    Rockefeller knows my positions well. I feel as if it would be unbecoming to give him personal assurances, however. I work for all of the American people.
  • 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?
    There is a certain element of conservatism in the southern states. I don't think that their temperament aligns with that of Bryan. I will simply repeat the message that he is a radical.
  • You've got a fairly clean reputation in politics. Can you leverage this to mend the rift between the party establishment and the so-called Mugwumps (who tended to support Grover Cleveland)?
    We will change the bad policies of Grover Cleveland while continuing his legacy of clean governance and integrity.
  • 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?
    That's not a good idea. Let's be realistic and devote our efforts to the states that matter.
  • Word has it that at one of Bryan's nighttime revivals, the torches were arranged to cast a halo around his head. Do you think this kind of religious imagery is appropriate for a presidential candidate?
    If this story is true, I would consider it to be a blasphemous appropriation of religious symbolism.
  • 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?
    Where we have mature, stable industries, tariffs can be lower. They should be high on most products.
  • 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?
    It's not the job of government to regulate labor disputes, but the fact of the matter is that these strikers were allowing no rail traffic to pass through Chicago whatsoever. Something needed to be done.
  • What is your opinion on measures that would aim to restrict the sale or production of alcohol?
    Perhaps if our goal is to prevent drinking on Sunday, or public drunkenness, I am all for those measures. But a blanket temperance law is a different story.
  • Grover Cleveland led the push to repeal the Sherman Silver Purchase Act in 1894. What are your thoughts on his actions during that period?
    Unfortunately the Treasury was bankrupt. I do think that Cleveland approached this in the usual heavy-handed, abrasive manner, but he was absolutely in the right. This whole episode demonstrates the folly of silver coinage.
  • What are your thoughts on the Cleveland Administration in general?
    Everyone agrees that Grover Cleveland is an honorable man. Our issue is with the results of his policies. Cleveland is deeply unpopular right now for a reason, and that is because his Administration caused a panic.
  • Do you think coinage of silver would have a positive effect on industrial workers? Or conversely, how would they benefit from the continuance of the gold standard?
    The gold standard will support a business recovery, and it will enhance the value of wages. At the end of the day, it is business that creates the jobs, and we must be sure that business is healthy again in America.
  • 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.
  • Would you support federal "Blue Laws" to protect the sanctity of Sunday?
    This debate has no place in our system of federalism. The individual states have every right to decide how they wish to handle the issue of commerce and drinking on Sunday.
  • Will you work towards international agreements to create a monetary system based on "bimetallism", i.e. a combination of gold and silver?
    The international system we have in place is the gold standard. Not only is this highly advisable from a business standpoint, but it is driven by the power of Great Britain. We are better off working within this system.
  • Are you pleased with the recent defeat in Congress of the Pacific Railroad Funding Bill, which would have provided federal support to the Southern and Central Pacific railroads.
    Without federal support including loans and land grants, there are certain railroads which would simply be too large to construct with private capital. I was disappointed by the defeat of this bill.
  • Is it generally appropriate for federal courts to issue injunctions against striking unions?
    The Pullman Strike of 1894 disrupted half of the nation's rail traffic and threatened to throw our society into complete turmoil. A small group of radicals should never have the power to disrupt the lives of millions.