Imagine a presidential election in which the candidates never campaign.

In the weeks leading up to the much-anticipated showdown of 2004, we are getting bombarded with photos, news clips and sound bites from George W. Bush and John Kerry. It’s hard to believe there was once a time when the Republican and Democratic candidates decided not to promote themselves.

“The election in Farmington passed very quietly, and a light vote was polled on both sides,” the Farmington Chronicle reported in November of 1892.

The reason for the lack of fanfare and controversy was that in the months leading up to the election, incumbent President Benjamin Harrison’s wife, Caroline, lay dying of tuberculosis. Two weeks before the election, she passed away. Harrison was understandably too distracted to campaign. His challenger, Grover Cleveland, made a truly compassionate decision. Out of respect for the Harrisons, he refrained from campaigning as well.

This was the second round in these two candidates’ bid for the presidency.

Four years before, Cleveland had won more popular votes, but Harrison won the Oval Office because he had received more electoral votes. This time, the outcome was more decisive. Cleveland won the election, earning 46 percent of the popular vote to Harrison’s 43 percent and 277 electoral votes to Harrison’s 145.

Election returns in Farmington did not mirror the country. Republican candidate Harrison “carried the day” with 387 votes; Cleveland received 291.

In Farmington, candidates from lesser parties were not forgotten. Seventeen people voted for Prohibition candidate John Bidwell. It would be another 27 years before an amendment to the Constitution would prohibit the use of alcohol, but Bidwell received 2 percent of the vote nationally.

Four Farmingtonians voted for the People’s Party, otherwise known as the Populists. Nationally, Populist candidate James Weaver did quite well for an independent. He called for an eight-hour work day, and received 9 percent of the vote.

One lone person in Farmington voted for Socialist-Labor candidate Simon Wing, who ran on a Marxist platform. Whoever that radical was in the midst of the conservative environs of Western Maine, he is now lost to history.

While the election in Farmington passed very quietly, the post-election celebration was quite festive. Despite temperatures below freezing and a stiff north wind, area residents flooded into Farmington for the official victory party. They came by special trains from Phillips, New Sharon and Livermore Falls. Others came on foot or with teams. Bands and drum corps marched in a parade along with cavalry on horseback, and prominent Democrats waved to the crowd from carriages. Homes were decorated as if for a holiday. The Greenleaf house sported a huge lighted picture of Cleveland, “Japanese lanterns adorned the front yard while candles graced every window.”

In the next year, the United States economy would flounder, businesses would fail, unemployment would rise. But on that night, no one could see that future. Everyone felt like celebrating, not just the Democrats. “A spirit of local pride pervaded the whole community,” the paper reported, “regardless of politics.”

Luann Yetter has researched and written a history column for the Sun Journal for the past 10 years. She teaches writing at the University of Maine at Farmington and can be reached at [email protected].