1960Vice President Oldiesfreak1854 won the Republican nomination fairly easily, placating the conservative wing of the party by picking Senator ElectionsGuy of Wisconsin. The Republican platform, in an effort to hold the gains Eisenhower had made with African-American voters, took a hard stance on civil rights and a more moderate tone on bread-and-butter issues. The Democrats nominated Kentuckian TNF, a labor ally and Alben Barkley
protege. Hoping to double down on his proposed "Great Society", he picked the young Pennsylvanian Snowstalker, who he hoped could keep Northeastern Catholics on his side and bolster his anti-communist credentials (despite having been born in the United States, Snowstalker was of Cuban descent and supported a hard line against the new Castro regime, at least publicly). Despite the Democratic ticket not being ideal for moderate voters and worries from the Southern wing about the ticket's endorsement of civil rights legislation, TNF's charismatic, populist speaking style handed him a strong victory in the first television debates against Oldiesfreak, which combined with a massive labor GOTV effort, handed him a narrow victory.
TNF/Snowstalker - 279
Oldiesfreak/Electionsguy - 259
