Campaign Trail Results: Game #694745
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:
- katsinas.nick
View overall results, or a specific state:
| Candidate | Electoral Votes | Popular Votes | Pop. Vote % |
|---|---|---|---|
| ---- Abraham Lincoln | 181 | 1,987,096 | 42.68 |
| ---- John Bell | 62 | 715,720 | 15.37 |
| ---- John C. Breckinridge | 58 | 910,093 | 19.55 |
| ---- Stephen A. Douglas | 2 | 1,042,349 | 22.39 |
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?The threat of a Southern schism has forced our hand. We must accept the protection of slavery in federal territories, and protect the instution in future states like Kansas and New Mexico.
- 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?We may have our issues with Lincoln, but our primary attacks should be reserved for the duplicitous Southern party, and the ambiguous Constitutional Union organization.
- How aggressively should your party attack the Constitutional Unionists and John Bell in this election?Anyone who supports the Union is fine in my book, at least in comparison to the secessionist Southern Democrats.
- 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?I will never appear on a fusion ticket with Breckinridge, but I will take my name off the ballot in the slave states (barring Missouri, of course). Hopefully he and Bell will reciprocate in the north.
- Will you keep your name on the ballot in Oregon and California, even if doing so might divide the anti-Lincoln vote?No, I will not. I have a good chance of winning them and I need every vote I can get.
- 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?Every party has political clubs and supporters. There's no reason to take special alarm at the Wide Awakes.
- Should your party continue its familiar attacks on the “black Republicans” as abolitionists and supporters of social and political equality for blacks?It might be in our best interest to play down such rhetoric in this particular campaign. Our base in the North will vote for us anyway, and it's not as if we have any Southern support to lose at this point.
- 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?I've been an advocate of a Transcontinental Railroad for the past decade. We need to make sure that is appreciated by the voters.
- 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?The Democrats are in favor of our current naturalization laws. That is my position and I stand by it.
- 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?Let's keep a low profile on this issue and hope it passes. We don't need to make things worse by issuing controversial statements.
- 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?Not at all. This argument has come up in the past, but we should take a more careful analysis of it this time around.
- 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.
- Do you have any statements to make about the Administration of James Buchanan, who you have had icy relations with in the past?I'm not going to say a word about James Buchanan. He disgusts me personally, but many Democrats do support him, after all.
- 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.