Campaign Trail Results: Game #828218
Play The Campaign Trail
This Game:
- Year: 1860
- Player Candidate: Stephen A. Douglas
- Running Mate: James Guthrie
- Difficulty Level: Normal
- Winner Take All Mode?: Yes
- Game Played:
View overall results, or a specific state:
| Candidate | Electoral Votes | Popular Votes | Pop. Vote % |
|---|---|---|---|
| ---- Abraham Lincoln | 171 | 1,883,570 | 40.42 |
| ---- John C. Breckinridge | 94 | 916,210 | 19.66 |
| ---- John Bell | 24 | 581,658 | 12.48 |
| ---- Stephen A. Douglas | 14 | 1,278,403 | 27.43 |
Answers:
- To what extent do you plan to personally campaign in this election?It's a bold move, but I will campaign for the Democratic cause across the North.
- How should your party address the slavery issue during this campaign?I had hoped that popular sovereignty would resolve the slavery issue, but the intransigence of the Southern bolters has convinced me otherwise. I now believe that slavery must not be permitted in any new state or territory.
- What do you have to say about the merits of your running mate, James Guthrie?I'm proud to share a ballot with James Guthrie of Kentucky.
- How aggressively should your party attack the Republicans and Abraham Lincoln in this election?Lincoln and his party are abolitionists, whether they care to admit it or not. I don't believe a majority in the North would support them if this were fully understood.
- How aggressively should your party attack the Constitutional Unionists and John Bell in this election?This party has no discernible platform or political positions on any issue. They are the carcass of the pro-slavery wing of the Whig Party, masquerading as saviors of the Union.
- How aggressively should your party attack the Southern Democrats and John Breckenridge in this election?We've obviously had our falling out at the Convention this year, but we will eventually need to rebuild our party. Going on the attack in this case will only make things worse.
- What is your opinion on the formation of fusion tickets in the Northern states to consolidate the anti-Lincoln vote?This is no time for false pride. Let's do what we can to build a fusion ticket where that action makes sense, and worry about the rest when we get to it.
- Will you keep your name on the ballot in Oregon and California, even if doing so might divide the anti-Lincoln vote?I will take my name off the ballot in those states. We just need to make sure Lincoln doesn't win them.
- What should your party's position be on the raid of John Brown, late in 1859?We will condemn the activity of any such self-styled revolutionaries. John Brown was a fanatic and a lunatic.
- Do you have any comment on the paramilitary “Wide Awake” clubs that have marched in support of Republicans?In our volatile environment, it is hardly helpful to have many thousand young men marching in pseudo-military garb, professing their support for the Republicans.
- Should your party continue its familiar attacks on the “black Republicans” as abolitionists and supporters of social and political equality for blacks?Of course we should. This is one of most effective attacks we have against the shenanigans of the Republicans.
- What position should your party take on the tariff question in this election?Everybody knows that the Democrats are the party of low tariffs, and we intend to keep it that way.
- How much should your party emphasize its support of a Transcontinental Railroad in this election?Perhaps as a compromise with the sentiment of the Deep South, we could accept a new position on this issue.
- How much should your party emphasize its support of a homestead act in this election?This has been a Democratic idea since the days of Andrew Jackson. We support it completely.
- What position should your party take on foreign immigration and nationalization in this election?We will attack the Republican embrace of immigration as opportunistic and disingenuous. It doesn't take a genius to figure out which party the Know Nothings joined.
- What is your position on the Supreme Court's Dred Scott v. Sandford decision?There's nothing in this decision which contradicts my own ideas on slavery. Slavery can hardly thrive in a territory where the residents oppose the practice, regardless of the Court's abstractions on the issue.
- Do you have anything to say about the efforts of some to reopen the Atlantic slave trade?This is the type of aggressive, expansive move by the Southern Democrats that led to the split in our party. Under no circumstances would I support the reopening of the Atlantic slave trade.
- Do you support the further expansion of the United States into Mexico, Cuba, or the Caribbean?My party and I support the acquisition of Cuba, and of other territories if possible.
- What is your position on the passage of “personal liberty laws” by various states, to flout the Fugitive Slave Act?These are the types of radical abolitionist measures which have caused so many problems in our politics. The federal law takes precedence.
- Would you support a compromise Amendment which permanently protected slavery in the Southern states, in return for no further expansion of the institution?Absolutely I would. Not only would this prevent a potential war and preserve the Union, but it would remove slavery from the realm of political debate once and for all.
- If any Southern state was to secede, would you use military force as President to preserve the Union?Let there be no question that I support the preservation of the Union above all else.
- Do you believe that a Republican victory would result in a flood of free blacks into Northern states and western territories?This is the logical conclusion of the Republican program, if they succeed in closing off slavery and slowly extinguishing it.
- Should the proposed constitution for the state of Kansas be accepted by Congress, and Kansas admitted as a free state?Part of any future compromise with Southern interests may involve the admission of Kansas as a slave state. We should not preclude that possibility at the current time.
- Should your party make any statements indicating the potential support of a national bank in this election?If we're going to win Missouri, we have to beat John Bell. Perhaps we could make some vague statements about a bank to woo a few of his supporters.
- Is there a particular state that you would concentrate your efforts on during the final days of the campaign?Our case is hopeless in this election. I will go south and speak out against secession, to the best of my capacity.