Campaign Trail Results: Game #715814
Play The Campaign Trail
This Game:
- Year: 1896
- Player Candidate: William McKinley
- Running Mate: Lyman Gage
- Difficulty Level: Normal
- Winner Take All Mode?: Yes
- Game Played:
dancook84
View overall results, or a specific state:
| Candidate | Electoral Votes | Popular Votes | Pop. Vote % |
|---|---|---|---|
| ---- William McKinley | 280 | 7,277,625 | 52.29 |
| ---- William Jennings Bryan | 167 | 6,499,177 | 46.70 |
| ---- John Palmer | 0 | 140,307 | 1.01 |
Answers:
- Do you have any comments to make about the candidacy of John Palmer, a Gold Democrat and splinter candidate who is currently campaigning?I'm very concerned about John Palmer. If he is gaining support maybe it means there is a valid criticism we must face up to.
- 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.William Jennings Bryan makes an eloquent appeal to the heart. It's important for voters to realize that his solutions will not help our country.
- 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?Bryan combines vague, non-sensical appeals to emotion with a near-blasphemous use of religious symbolism. I'm confident that the voters will reject this demagogue.
- 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.
- 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 burgeoning textile industry in the Upper South. Their success depends on cheap cotton, protection, and an absence of destabilizing labor issues.
- 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 take the fight to Bryan. I want us to be campaigning the hardest in Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, and Iowa. Our extra cash will ensure a landslide on election night.
- 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?It's time we think about implementing a series of public works projects to occupy our excess labor force. This will improve business by placing more money in the hands of consumers.
- 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.
- The Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act of 1894 lowered the rates on many goods, while still falling well short of Cleveland's ideal levels. What do you think about this act as a whole?My first action as President will be to reinstate higher tariffs. This is an American policy that supports American factories and American workers.
- The Dependent Pension Act of 1890 greatly expended the the pension system for Union Army veterans. What are your thoughts on this act?These are men who served honorably in our nation's greatest time of need. I will never allow agitators to attack their honorably granted pensions.
- It has been alleged that opportunistic young women have married Union Army veterans for the sole purpose of exploiting the pension system. Do you consider this to be a form of corruption? Would you implement some standards that widows must meet before they can inherit these pensions?One can never be sure when the inspiration of love will strike. Widows' pensions should be protected unconditionally.
- Should there be some regulation of working hours for children, particularly those under the age of 12 or 13?I believe this is warranted in the industrial trades. Let us not forget that all hands are needed on the farm, not least of all in this day and age.
- A few western states have allowed women the right to vote. Do you take the calls for a women's suffrage Amendment seriously?We welcome the support of women and men. Where women are granted the vote, we are confident that they will support our ticket.
- Should corporations be permitted to hire private detectives for security, and to infiltrate into labor movements?I don't see who has the authority to stop this. This is another example of regulation that would fall outside of the scope of the Commerce Clause in the Constitution.
- 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.I was opposed to this bill. We might have provided land grants and funding for railroads in the past, but that practice will end under my Administration.
- Will you press for your party to include a condemnation of lynching in the party platform?I abhor any instance where extra-judicial punishment is meted out by the passions of an inflamed mob. My party will speak out against this practice in our platform.
- 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.