Campaign Trail Results: Game #694289
Play The Campaign Trail
This Game:
- Year: 1896
- Player Candidate: William McKinley
- Running Mate: Garret Hobart
- Difficulty Level: Easy
- Winner Take All Mode?: Yes
- Game Played:
- SheliaJRowell
View overall results, or a specific state:
| Candidate | Electoral Votes | Popular Votes | Pop. Vote % |
|---|---|---|---|
| ---- William McKinley | 343 | 7,747,855 | 55.47 |
| ---- William Jennings Bryan | 104 | 6,090,876 | 43.60 |
| ---- John Palmer | 0 | 130,026 | 0.93 |
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.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.
- 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?I can't attack Bryan like the papers can without losing some of my luster. Let them publish the defamatory cartoons and opinion pieces.
- Your surrogates have taken to reminding some workers that factories and railroads will certainly be forced to close if a radical like Bryan takes office. Do you encourage such tactics?Bryan and his minions are no doubt threatening the American farmer with foreclosure and penury if I'm elected. Politics is politics and I don't see a problem.
- 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 would drive the important railroads of this region, such as Union Pacific, into bankruptcy by reneging on agreed-upon financing arrangements.
- 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.
- 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?We need to reaffirm our commitment to non-intervention in business affairs. Companies need stability before they will have the confidence to expand.
- 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.
- What do you have to say about the efforts of the "Sugar Trust" to shield itself from the effects of the Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act?In certain areas we should be open to higher than average tariffs. The sugar industry is a valued part of our American system.
- Should there be greater regulation or even price controls on railroad shipping rates?I doubt that it is even Constitutional for the federal government to control railroad rates. This will never happen in my Administration.
- 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?We should monitor this program very carefully to determine if it can be done in a cost-effective manner.
- 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.
- Should there be some regulation of working hours for children, particularly those under the age of 12 or 13?It falls outside the scope of the Constitution for the federal government to regulate the working conditions within a factory. This is not something that the President has control over.
- Do you agree with the Supreme Court's ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson that separate accommodations for the races can be legally required by certain states?I will repeat my firmly held conviction that we should not politicize the decisions of the Supreme Court.
- Would you support federal "Blue Laws" to protect the sanctity of Sunday?I don't support the mandated closing of shops 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.
- Do you think that the United States Navy is large enough to adequately defend American interests on a global level?I am disappointed with the backward status of our Navy. We need a more vigorous fleet, and we need a canal in Nicaragua to more closely link our two coasts.
- Do you approve of Grover Cleveland's handing of the federal budget over the previous four years?Is there anyone left in the United States who approves of Grover Cleveland? We need to move on from his failed Administration.