[wideawake]

IIRC, Lincoln did not carry his own Illinois county (Sagamon?) in 1860; Douglas did.

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.

[stainlessbanner]

A Judge named David Davis was Lincoln's campaign handler/manager. There is a story about how he won support (delegate votes) without Lincoln's knowledge by attending evening political parties at the convention.

Seward was the front-runner by a long shot at the convention, but after 3 days of the Davis treatment, several states delegates jumped to the Lincoln camp.

I think Davis was behind the parades, the public image of Lincoln, and his rail splitter song/theme/persona. At any rate, Seward rested on his laurels and lost in the last minute (third vote I believe).