[BroJoeK]

DiogenesLamp: "Doesn't bother me.
If it was an accepted practice, then no one gains an unfair advantage if they simply do it better than the other guy."

Here you are making my case for evaluating behavior not by our standards, but by standards & values of the time.

DiogenesLamp: "But I think this view had changed by Lincoln's time, and bribing voters with drinking isn't the only thing Lincoln did to "win" his elections."

And your evidence for this is what, exactly?

[DiogenesLamp]

Here you are making my case for evaluating behavior not by our standards, but by standards & values of the time.

I have no problem with evaluating people's behavior by the standards of their times, but Lincoln was a pioneer in underhanded dirty tactics of which I do not think he has an equal in that era.

Boss Tweed later, but I know of no one else who would use rail cars to carry massive numbers of fake supporters to bribe and intimidate a convention.

Of course modern liberals still use this tactic now known as "astro-turffing".

Lincoln pioneered the "rent a crowd" technique.