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"Because of the strong probability of victory in 1896, several prominent Republicans eagerly sought the presidential nomination. Among the foremost contenders were William B. Allison of Iowa, Thomas B. Reed of Maine, and Wiliam McKinley of Ohio. Former President Harrison also had some backing, but he withdrew from consideration early in the year."
Gilbert C. Fite, "Election of 1896," in Volume II, *History of American Presidential Elections 1789-1868* [Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., Fred L.Israel, and William P. Hansen, eds], p. 1798.

Suppose Harrison stayed in the race, and actually got nominated. See http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9F0DEED81730E033A25753C2A9659C94679ED7CF for an interesting March 1896 New York Times article about "The Hopes of Harrison." I'll admit that it will be hard to beat the Hanna-McKinley organization, but Harrison would have some advantages. After all, he could point out how much better the economy was after four years of his administration (even if it didn't look that great to voters at the time) as compared with four years of Cleveland. For moderate silverites who might otherwise be attracted by Allsion, Harrison could point out that he signed the Sherman Silver Purchase Act and never urged its repeal. For tariffites, he could point out that while McKinley may have written the tariff bill, it was Harrison who had urged Congress to enact higher tariffs. Moreover, Harrison was from Indiana--always a crucial state in Gilded Age elections. Anyway, if necessary, we could make our POD the accidental death of McKinley or Hanna.

I think that if nominated, Harrison would beat Bryan, though narrowly (unlike McKinley he might not carry Ohio, but the Republicans could beat Bryan without Ohio). Even without Hanna's help, big business is going to lavishly finance whoever runs against Bryan.

In some ways, Harrison's second term will be similar to the McKinley administration, but here is one important difference: Harrison opposed the acquisition of the Philippines:

"While assembling a case [as counsel for Venezuela] that challenged British imperial pretensions, Harrison grew increasingly uncomfortable with such pretensions on the part of his own country. He accepted the Spanish-American War launched by McKinley as a 'war for humanity' to rescue Cuba from oppressive Spanish rule, but he denied that the United States had God's commission to deliver the oppressed the world around. Less than three months after Commodore George Dewey's victory in Manila, Harrison expressed concern over American ambitions in the Philippines. He excused his own administration's attempted annexation of Hawaii on the grounds that it was something offered to, not sought by the United States. Taking the Philippines, however, would violate the long-standing policy, embodied in the Monroe Doctrine, that the United States should 'leave the rest of the world alone.' 'Why should we do anything more than to secure a snug little harbor for a coaling station?' he asked. 'We must have coaling stations in various parts of the world, but I do not think we want, with these, extensive territories.' In the 1898 midterm elections, Harrison did not campaign for Republican candidates. He pleaded that the Venezuela case left him no time, but, he wrote to a friend, 'I am not right sure that I find myself in sympathy with the extreme expansion views that are being advocated.'" Charles W. Calhoun, *Benjamin Harrison,* pp. 162-3. http://books.google.com/books?id=5mLuIx6z1qcC&pg=PA162&sig=8V-9SzIXB414an85jMGcC2FnvCg

Any thoughts? Harrison's attempt to distinguish Hawaii may seem disingenuous, but George W. Baker has argued (in an article of which only the first page is available online for non-subscribers) http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.23...id=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=21103151461731 that Harrison, unlike Blaine, was not an expansionist until 1893, and then was cautious, inward-looking and determined to be proper and avoid imputations of imperialism. http://books.google.com/books?id=rCQsQdqFyMYC&pg=PA462 In any event, it is a fact that some people who favored annexation of Hawaii opposed that of the Philippines, so we need not doubt the sincerity of Harrison's opposition to Philippine annexation, whether or not he was being consistent.
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