Ever since the decline of the Populist movement, Wisconsin had become almost a one-party state dominated by the Republican Party.[1] The Democratic Party became entirely uncompetitive outside certain German Catholic counties adjoining Lake Michigan as the upper classes, along with the majority of workers who followed them, completely fled from William Jennings Bryan’s agrarian and free silver sympathies.[2] As Democratic strength weakened severely after 1894 – although the state did develop a strong Socialist Party to provide opposition to the GOP – Wisconsin developed the direct Republican primary in 1903 and this ultimately created competition between the “League” under Robert M. La Follette, and the conservative “Regular” faction.[3]
When William Jennings Bryan was nominated for a third presidential bid, he visited Wisconsin in early August to urge the Democrats in the state legislature to support his state policies.[4] An earlier poll had suggest Bryan gaining a substantial part of the radical La Follette following,[5] and Bryan would ridicule new Republican nominee William Howard Taft in Milwaukee during the last week of September.[6]
Despite Bryan’s campaigns, October polls by the Chicago Record-Herald said that Wisconsin was certain to vote for Taft,[7] As things turned out, the Record-Herald polls were accurate, with Taft winning by eighty-one thousand votes, and carrying all but six counties. However, Taft's victory, while still large, was considerably narrower than the Republican victories in the state in the previous three elections.
^The 1909 Blue Book gives the totals as Taft 247,747; Bryan 166,662; Debs 28,147; Chafin 11,565; Gillhaus 318; Scattering 2. Based on the Board of Canvassers report, with the exception of Taft, these numbers are simply incorrect. For the other parties, no elector on any ticket received those numbers of votes. Indeed, the Blue Book is an unreliable source for Wisconsin election data from about 1890 to 1920 and its figures frequently differ from the figures listed in the Board of Canvassers reports.
^In Wisconsin, the Socialist Party was still referred to as the Social Democratic Party in 1908
^The Socialist Labor Party ran only 4 electors on its Wisconsin ticket
^Includes 39 votes for August Gillhaus and 32 votes for Donald R. Monroe; these were the Socialist Labor nominees for President and Vice President, respectively. Since voters in Wisconsin chose electors directly, these were votes Gillhaus and Monroe as electors, not as presidential candidates.
^Based on totals for highest elector on each ticket
^Burnham, Walter Dean; 'The System of 1896: An Analysis'; in The Evolution of American Electoral Systems, pp. 178-179 ISBN0313213798
^Sundquist, James; Politics and Policy: The Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson Years, p. 526 ISBN0815719094
^Hansen, John Mark; Shigeo Hirano, and Snyder, James M. Jr.; ‘Parties within Parties: Parties, Factions, and Coordinated Politics, 1900-1980’; in Gerber, Alan S. and Schickler, Eric; Governing in a Polarized Age: Elections, Parties, and Political Representation in America, pp. 165-168 ISBN978-1-107-09509-0
^‘LaFollette Country!’; The Idaho Recorder, August 6, 1908, p. 7
^‘La Follette’s Part in the Coming Campaign: Looks like a Case of Bob and Bryan’; The Indianapolis News, July 18, 1908, p. 12
^‘Bryan Ridivules Taft in Milwaukee: Says Republican Candidate Is not in Sympathy with Convention Principles’; The Gazette (York, Pennsylvania), September 27, 1908, p. 1
^‘Wisconsin for Taft: The Record-Herald Poll Suggests a Majority of 87,000’; The Hutchinson News, October 20, 1908, p. 1
^ abWisconsin Historical Society, Statement of Board of Canvassers of the State of Wisconsin for General Election held November 3, 1908
