Lincoln Douglas debate letter

[Steve]

Bill,
Thanks for the informative and helpful explanation on how the Lincoln-Douglas debates affected Douglas's chances of being elected and the opinion of him in the South following the senate election. And how that effected the 1860 Democratic ticket.

I still don't think it's likely a united Democratic Party would've defeated Lincoln in the 1860 election. Lincoln got 180 electoral votes with 152 needed to win. California and Oregon would definitely have switched to the Democrats and probably the 4 electoral votes of New Jersey that went to Lincoln for a total of 11 electoral votes switched to the Democrats. That's nowhere enough to get a majority of electoral votes even if the Democrats had won all of the Bell states. I don't know if there were enough votes to flip enough of the others states even in closer margin states like Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to secure a united Democratic ticket win.

But don't mind that minor nit-pick, your answer about Douglas is much appreciated.