Hail, Columbia! (The Election of 1876, Round 2)

[Cranberry]

If you look at vote totals, 1876 at first seemed like a return to the normal after the anomaly of 72: the Liberals back at a roof of support of about 45%, and the Whig vote encompassing the remaining 55% or more. Only this time, said majority Whig vote was split: the more pro-reform wing split off the main party and elected former Senator John Frémont to their standard-bearer, while more traditional Whigs stuck with Senator Thomas Bayard. This split in the Whig vote ensured for the incumbent President to score first in the first round, with Frémont a close second, ahead of Bayard. The main question in the second round will now be which candidate may energise his base of supporters best, and whether or not Frémont can persuade his former party colleagues to jump ship and opt for him as the lesser of two evils.

3 days

President Theodore Roosevelt of New York [Commonwealth Liberal]
The President is running for reelection on his popular reform agenda, promising further reforms in the event of a second term. He talks about public schooling and university reform, support for the Temperance movement and urban planning. Once again, Roosevelt runs a "front-porch" campaign based in the cities of Franklin and New York; while sending out surrogates to campaign for him in the further provinces.

Former Senator John C. Frémont of Sacramento [Democratic]
A respected elder statesman and former Senator from Sacrement, John Frémont is the ideal figure to lead a reformist break-away Whig faction. Influential not only in his home province, whose development he was heavily involved in, Frémont's platform includes support for many of Roosevelt's reforms, but warns cautiously of others. In traditional Whiggish fashion, he warns before the Temperance movement as a vehicle of anti-immigrant policies, and champions causes for the immigrants, largely among the working classes.

[Cranberry]

One day left here. Frémont is doing far better than expected, honestly.

[Cranberry]

While hard-pressed by his challenger Frémont, President Theodore Roosevelt was able to capture a second term in office, and in the second round even increase his majority to a full-fledged margin of thirteen percent. While the former made strong inroads in traditional Liberal provinces such as Quebec, which due to being heavily opposed to the temperance movement and other measures of reform being perceived as too anti-Catholic, and also won the votes of immigrant groups such as Germans, Italians or Irishmen by a strong margin; the Liberal strongholds in the Southwest and Northeast, coupled with low voter turnout in the Whig heartland of the Southeast, propelled the incumbent President to a second term in office. Vice President Iglesias was subsequently also reconfirmed by the Liberal-controlled congress.

President Theodore Roosevelt of New York [Commonwealth Liberal] - 56.7%
Former Senator John C. Frémont of Sacramento [Democratic] - 43.3%