Which Republicans could win in 1860? (Vote as many as qualified)

Which of these men could win the Presidency in 1860 if nominated?


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Long time ago a made a thread asking the chances of Seward winning 1860, this is similar to that but with every single Republican candidate put forth in the 1860 Convention, even the minor ones. For reference the candidates are

  • Senator of New York, former Whig Party member and Governor, William Henry Seward.
  • Senator of Pennsylvania, former Democrat and Know Nothing, Simon Cameron
  • Governor of Ohio, former Whig, Liberty, and Free Soil party member; the first Attroney General of Slave and a once Senator, Salmon P. Chase
  • Missouri's Attorney General and a Representative in the 1820's, former Jeffersonian Republican, Whig, and Know Nothing Edward Bates
  • New Jersey's then Attorney General, former Senator and the previous Vice-Presidential candidate under Fremont, William L. Dayton
  • Associate Justice appointed under Jackson, as well as his Postmaster General and a 2 term Ohio Representative, he served as a member of nearly every political party formed after the fall of the Jeffersonian Republicans, John McLean
  • Vermont Senator, former Rep and Taylor Postmaster General, Jacob Collamer
  • Ohio Senator, fierce abolitionist even during his Whig days, Benjamin Wade
  • Justice of Pennsylvania's Supreme Court, former member of the Free Soil wing of the Democrats, John M. Read
  • The man infamously attacked on the Senate floor, Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner
  • First and so far only Republican nominee, California Senator and western trailblazer, John Fremont
  • Kentucky's lead abolitionist, often literally fighting the Slave Power in this border state, he was the cousin of Whig boss Henry Clay. His service ended at a a few terms in Kentucky's House of Representatives, Cassius Marcellus Clay
 
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Reminder, vote all that apply. If you think all of them can conceivably win, vote so. If you think only a handful can win in 1860 against the same conditions Lincoln went through, a divided Democratic Party and a border party of remnant Whigs and Unionists, vote only those few men.
 
Well, it's like this.....

The only ones I'm sure of, that could have a decent chance of winning would be Seward, Chase, Fremont, Dayton, and yes, Charles Sumner, too. Clay would be too extreme, and the Know-Nothings are out of the question.....and I can't be sure about the others.
 
The only ones I'm sure of, that could have a decent chance of winning would be Seward, Chase, Fremont, Dayton, and yes, Charles Sumner, too. Clay would be too extreme, and the Know-Nothings are out of the question.....and I can't be sure about the others.

Would you say the men who weren't once Know Nothings and didn't preach Abolitionist rhetoric (the immediate emancipation kind) had fairly good chances?
 
Would you say the men who weren't once Know Nothings and didn't preach Abolitionist rhetoric (the immediate emancipation kind) had fairly good chances?

Pretty much, but honestly more of the former than the latter, with the possible exception of Cassius Clay.
 
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