Lincoln's handlers supposedly printed fake admission tickets to the GOP committee meeting the day of nominations to "pack" the house full of his Illinois supporters.
Wouldn't surprise me - Douglas was very popular in central Illinois.
Lincoln's handlers supposedly printed fake admission tickets to the GOP committee meeting the day of nominations to "pack" the house full of his Illinois supporters.
Lincoln didn't have "handlers" - as Seward and others who attempted to "handle" him learned to their chagrin.
There were no "fake tickets" to the convention. Any convention officer's staff could issue a signed seating ticket to the convention and Lincoln-backing officers' staffs distributed every ticket they could give away to their favorite convention-goers.
Lincoln advocates also arranged for cheap fares to Chicago for Lincoln supporters out east so that they could get those tickets and use them. Obviously Lincoln backers had a much better campaign organization in Chicago than candidates from other states did.
Typical nineteenth century electioneering.