Near Unanimous Bryan 1896 wins in the Rocky Mountain States

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

1896 was an issues election, not a partisan one. Bryan appealed perfectly to Westerners.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Economic depression due to the Panic of 1893, mountains chock full of silver, and a charismatic, populist leader who appealed a great deal to the people who lived there.

You would think that the 1893 Panic would have hurt the party in power in 1896. 

It should have, but it was understood that Cleveland and Bryan had precisely nothing in common.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

I'd also argue that Bryan essentially laid the foundations of the modern party system. That is, 1896 began the trend that would, by 1932, firmly place the Democrats on the left and the Republicans on the right of the American political spectrum.