Since I am a captive from noon-midnight on Thursday, Friday, and Saturdays, I have been watching Ken Burn's "The Civil War" on PBS for the past few weeks. The Presidential Election of 1864 had Lincoln running against his former General McClellan, whom he had to fire due to his wishy-washy effectiveness as a leader (and might I add, apparent cowardice). Grant and Sherman were stalemated during the summer months, the country was tired of the war, and Lincoln had more or less resigned himself to the fact he was going to be beaten in the election. McClellan was seen as a kind of Messiah, too.
But, Sherman and Grant began to get the ball rolling again, Jefferson Davis more or less resigned himself to the fact that the War was lost for the South, and come November, Lincoln won in a landslide. Never before had a republic had elections in the midst of civil war and survived, but, in November, 1864, history changed.
There are a lot of parallels between the 1864 and 2008 elections. Kinda interesting stuff.