1896
(Credit for the PoD goes to Emperor Julian.)
America was about to undergo a massive shift in politics, but it didn't know it yet...
In those days, there were three major parties, the Democratic, Republican and Populist parties. The Republican Party was generally the liberal party, but that would change in the election of 1896... The Republicans nominated William McKinley, the former Governor of Ohio, as their presidential candidate. McKinley was a well-known conservative who supported the Gold Standard that existed at the time. He was supported by Mark Hanna, a wealthy and talented Ohioan businessman who ensured McKinley had plenty of funds for the campaign. However, not as much businessmen as Hanna would have liked, supported McKinley. A fair few of them supported the eventual Democratic candidate.
The Democratic Party was heavily split between Conservatives (which supported the existing Gold Standard) and Populists (which were pro-bimetallism). The Conservatives united around William Russell, which at the Convention, gave a great speech arguing for the Gold Standard. Populist Democrats hoped that their candidate, William Jennings Bryan, would give a speech that would guarantee him the nomination. However, Bryan's throat was damaged by choking on a sandwich a while before, so his "Cross of Gold" speech was an absolute failure. Russell won the convention.
The Populist Party was essentially waiting to see if Bryan would pull it off at the Democratic convention. When they saw that he failed, they turned to James H. Kyle, which declined out of a sense that Bryan deserved the nomination. The Populists offered the nomination to Bryan, and he deliberated, before being convinced by his wife to take it. The Populists were getting impatient, no letter were delivered, and they were about to nominate Thomas E. Watson, when the letter finally came from a now determined Bryan. They nominated him for president and Watson as his running mate.
McKinley ran a front-porch campaign, campaigning from his home, which ensured that the people didn't see his bad side, and only saw his good, by via of McKinley's campaign choosing only those who would portray him positively. The funding that Hanna raised, ensured that everybody knew about McKinley by Election Night '96.
Russell ran a pro-active campaign, focusing on the South, since polls showed him losing in the Upper South. His funding were quite high, but not as high as McKinley. He however, did ensure that there were a lot of publicity for his campaign. This however, was a bad move, as his campaign had a lot of sticky moments, thanks to populist Democrats. On Election Night, he was polling badly, and started to turn to drink, which would eventually kill him.
Bryan ran a pro-active campaign, similar to Russell, but focused on the Midwest, where he thought that Populism could take off. He also focused on the West, where the Populist Party always did well. This tactic would eventually pay off in a future election, but it didn't go as well as Bryan hoped in this one, as Ohio, a large state, was practically guaranteed for McKinley thanks to the favorite son effect. Everywhere else, however, Bryan was polling very well, surpassing Russell in a lot of Midwestern states, but critically, he was a distant second to McKinley in those states.
On Election Night 1896, American politics was changed forever...
William McKinley/Garret Hobart (Republican) 326 EV, 43.8% PV
William E. Russell/Adlai Stevenson (Democratic) 77 EV, 29.7% PV
William J. Bryan/Thomas E. Watson (Populist) 44 EV, 21.2% PV
