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APPROACHING PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION:
“PERHAPSWEWERE A LITTLE OVER-CONFIDENT”
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GARFIELD, JAMES A. Autograph Letter Signed, “J.A. Garfield,” to H.R. Baker,
requesting that an “engine” be repaired and shipped to OH, and suggesting that the
[Garfield presidential] campaign should take heed of the result of the ME [gubernatorial]
election. 1 page, 4to, “Mentor Ohio” stationery, ruled paper; linen repairs to separations at
folds verso, faint scattered soiling recto, scattered staining verso, docketing verso. (TFC)
Mentor, 15 September [1880]
[600/900]
“
. . . I hope the news from Maine will not discourage our friends from a vigorous prosecution of the
campaign. Perhaps we were a little over-confident and needed this check to make us work well.”
Confident that the incumbent Republican governor would win the ME gubernatorial election in
September 1880, the Garfield presidential campaign was given a shock when the Democrat Harris
M. Plaisted won, assuring them that the forthcoming contest for the presidency against Democrat
Winfield S. Hancock would not be easy. Indeed, of all U.S. presidents, Garfield won by the narrowest
popular vote margin.