Campaign Trail Results: Game #879501

This Game:

  • Year: 1896
  • Player Candidate: William McKinley
  • Running Mate: Thomas B. Reed
  • 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 McKinley2266,656,03747.66
---- William Jennings Bryan2217,111,16550.91
---- John Palmer0199,7591.43

Answers:

  • Which of the following will be your primary campaign message?
    My administration will bring back the era of the budget surplus, and will work towards the professionalization of the federal government. We will continue to phase out the 'spoils system' in accordance with the Pendleton Act.
  • 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.
  • 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'm not comfortable coordinating my message with the press. I trust that they will find the right way to present a contrast between me and my opponent.
  • John Palmer, a Gold Democrat, is also running against Bryan. He has offered to remove his name from the ballot on the East and West Coast if you will do the same in the South. He argues that this will consolidate the anti-Bryan vote. What do you think?
    I hope Palmer will see fit to remove himself unilaterally from the most hotly contested border states. His is purely a protest candidacy however, and I cannot remove myself from a ballot on his behalf without looking like a buffoon.
  • As a Congressman, you voted for the Sherman Silver Purchase Act in 1890. Can you reassure your supporters that you are now 100% in favor of the gold standard.
    Since 1890 the folly of a silver purchase program has become clear. Our Treasury was nearly bankrupted in 1894 and I won't allow this to happen a second time.
  • 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?
    Bryan is the type of do-gooder politician who would attempt to impose his own morality on this independent region.
  • 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?
    I will remind them that we support Cuban independence.
  • 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.
  • Today it looks like it's the Milwaukee Chamber of Commerce who have made the trip to your house. Do you have something inspiring to tell them in your speech?
    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 the free, unlimited coinage of silver at the current market price of 30-to-1 against gold. This ratio should be frequently adjusted to match actual prices in order to avoid another run on the Treasury's gold supply.
  • What is your definitive position on the tariff issue?
    Tariffs should be limited to the minimum amount necessary to raise sufficient revenue for the federal government.
  • 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?
    The Democratic idea has been that if you legislate to make the masses prosperous, their prosperity will find its way up through every class which rests upon them. We need to help our farmers and our workers by allowing the coinage of silver.
  • 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?
    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?
    We can criticize Cleveland for a lot of things, but his repeal of the Silver Purchase Act is not one of them. I supported Cleveland all the way in the repeal debate.
  • 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.
  • What is your interpretation of the antitrust statutes? Do large American business profit from monopolistic practices?
    I take a very narrow view of the term "monopoly". There is a need for these statutes but they open up a lot of danger for political witch hunts.
  • Would you ever consider government ownership of the railroads?
    I'm no fan of the railroads, but we should avoid radical solutions where other options exist. I would start by increasing the regulation of freight charges to benefit the working classes of our country.
  • What is your position on the struggle for independence in Cuba?
    We extend our sympathies to the people of Cuba in their struggle for independence from Spain.
  • Should there be some regulation of working hours for children, particularly those under the age of 12 or 13?
    It agonizes me that we do not have this protection in place. Have we not seen children who are seven years old losing their hands in the cotton looms?
  • 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.
  • Do you support federal intervention in the southern sharecropping system to make it more equitable for the tenant farmer?
    This is properly handled at the state level. It is not the business of the federal government to intervene into southern agricultural practice.
  • 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.