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| Benjamin Harrison 1 |
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| James Weaver |
If the antepenultimate 1election of the 19th Century had been about who had the best beard, Grover Cleveland wouldn’t have stood a chance. The two losers Benjamin Harrison and James Weaver could have modeled for the Smith Brothers Cough-Drop label. You wonder how their wives could find them under all that shrubbery.
The big issue in the campaign was monetary policy. Grover wanted to keep us on the gold standard, whereas Ben (Republican) and Jim (Populist) both favored bi-metalism: basing the currency on gold and silver.
As if any of that mattered. The American dollar hasn’t been based on any metal for decades and just look how good we’re doing.
Another novelty in the election was Wyoming, where those wild and woolly ruffians – if you know anything about the people of Wyoming, you don’t need me to tell you how cuckoo-crazy they are – actually allowed women to vote. (New Jersey’s original constitution had allowed women to vote, but the right had been rescinded in 1807.) 2 But Wyoming’s three electoral votes for Big Ben couldn’t change the outcome of the election, and Grover swept into his second non-consecutive term as president.
Result
Grover Cleveland: 277
Benjamin Harrison: 145
James Weaver: 22
1. Look it up.
2. The men must've outnumbered the women that year.
3. Or maybe he's Benjamin Harrison. I can't tell them apart, can you?
