Fearless Leader
Donor
If the conservative Democrats split off as a result of a President Stevenson nomination in 1896 does that not increase the chance of a Democrat Populist trumph because the vote would be split between conservative Dems and Republicans.
I admit I am again bumping this because it does interest me.
It also occurs to me that even if a President Stevenson had declared war on Spain his post war treatment of Cuba and the Phillipines might have been different to McKinley's
The problem is really, that without a convincing leader, the Bourbon Democrats are going to do more harm to the Democrat party than good. In OTL they actually did attempt to run someone in opposition to Bryan, but they didn't pick up many votes mainly due to poor/old leadership (they hinged their bets on Cleveland running again). Unless you can see a viable candidate for the Bourbon Democrat's they're going to be hard pressed to garner significant electoral support.
What the separation of the Bourbon Democrats does do in TTL however, is deprive the Democrats of a great deal of their war chest and business support. In TTL the Democratic party will be seen as a mere front for the Silverites and Greenbacks having completely abandoned the "good sense" of the Gold Standard. (This was a common view in OTL with the nomination of Bryan as the Democratic presidential candidate.) Democrats who support non-inflationary measures and the Gold standards are going to be hard pressed to support a party that no longer even attempts to take into account their point of view.
Given a far more polarized political scene over the issue of Free Silver, I think the GOP might take a harder line vis-a-vis the Gold Standard in their platform. Furthermore, aiming to defeat Stevenson/Bryan and bereft of any valid leadership, the Bourbon Democrats might just endorse the GOP to see Stevenson defeated.