Republicans Prepare for Crucial Election Campaign
Party leaders warn of a 'still hunt' by Democrats to flip Washington and Montana.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
It is time for the Republican party of Washington to strengthen its lines, occupy the strategical positions and prepare for the important campaign upon which it will soon have to enter. All past elections sink into insignificance when compared with that which will take place this year. When it is considered that two United States senators and a member of the House of Representatives, as well as a full state government, are to be chosen, the importance of this approaching contest must be appreciated.
It may be well understood that the Democrats will make a desperate effort to carry the state. The national managers of the party expect the Republicans to carry North Dakota and South Dakota, but they hope to counteract this advantage by securing Democratic senators and representatives from Montana and Washington. Their plans for the campaign in these two states have already been laid. They propose to make what they term a 'still hunt,' hoping to work quietly for the accomplishment of their object and to win the result before the Republicans are fairly awake to the danger. An agent of the Democratic national committee has already visited the territory and another is now on his way here.
“They propose to make what they term a 'still hunt,' hoping to work quietly for the accomplishment of their object.”
Election cycles in Washington have always been defined by partisan intensity; this 1889 report on a 'still hunt' by national party agents reflects the state's long history as a battleground for national power, a dynamic that remains true in our modern era of campaign strategy.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.