2 – James G. Blaine (1884 Election)
If you look at Blaine’s performance in the 1884 Election purely from a numbers perspective, you would suggest that he shouldn’t be on the list. He ended up losing a close election to Grover Cleveland. In reality, the Republican candidate managed to throw away this election due to incendiary comments during the campaign along with a bribery scandal. The Republican Party had won the previous six elections and Blaine should have made it seven in a row.
Unlike Greeley, Blaine was eminently qualified to be a president. He represented the state of Maine in the House of Representatives for 13 years and in the U.S. Senate for five years. He was Secretary of State on two occasions (and under three different presidents) and had two previous tilts at being named the Republican nominee (1876 & 1880) before finally being selected in 1884.
The issues of railroad promotion and construction were major issues in the era and due to Blaine’s support and interest in the railroads, he was routinely accused of bribery and corruption. As you might expect, these allegations were brought up constantly during the election campaign. It was a typically dirty affair as Cleveland was found to have fathered an illegitimate child while the railroad scandal wouldn’t go away for Blaine.
In what was a tight race, Blaine had hoped his Irish Catholic mother could give him the support of the Irish Americans in New York. This hope was destroyed when one of his supporters gave a speech deriding the Democrats. The speech was infamous as it said the Democrats were the party of ‘Rum, Romanism and Rebellion’. While Blaine didn’t notice the slur against Catholics (nor did the newspaper reporters present), a member of the Democrat team did and ensured it was publicized.
This insult energized the Irish-American voters who voted heavily in favor of Cleveland and Blaine lost the state of New York by just 1,149 votes. He lost the popular vote by just 0.57% and by 219-182 in the Electoral College. He would have been president had he won New York.