2nd Best candidate in the 1860 Election

[Orser67]

Lincoln is clearly the best and Breckinridge is clearly the worst.

I think Bell was actually pretty decent compared to many of his Southern peers. He voted against the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and iirc he took after Henry Clay and some other Southern Whigs in that he never defended slavery as a positive good but rather saw it as an economic reality. However, I'd still go with Douglas.

In the final months of the campaign, Douglas realized he had no chance of winning and traveled to the South to deliver speeches against secession. After the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, he strongly supported Lincoln's call for volunteers and gave several speeches in condemning secession. His untimely death left the Democratic Party leaderless and gave an opening for Copperheads like Clement Vallandigham to gain influence in the party.