The presidential election was unusually heated. The Republican Party standard-bearer campaigned on a contentious social issue. The Democrats warned that the Republicans were extremists and their victory would lead to disaster for the country. Talk of a third-party candidacy was everywhere. The Democratic Party had been badly wounded having suffered devastating losses in the most recent mid-term elections two years previously. The Democrats had sponsored and passed a federal piece of legislation that divided the nation. The Republicans were still involved in crony capitalism.
