Ma Ma where's my Pa! Gone to the White House Ha Ha Ha!

In the presidential election of 1884, there was a glimpse of dirty politics and trying to find flaws in each candidate like never seen before, and the trend would continue to the present. Succeeding James Garfield in office was Chester A. Arthur, and while his term was fairly successful, especially in civil service reform, Arthur had made it clear he was not going to seek re-nomination for the Republican Party in the next election. Running for the Republicans was James G. Blaine from Maine, former Speaker of the House. The Democrats eventually settled on Grover Cleveland, politician from New York, having held offices such as sheriff, mayor, and governor. During the campaign, Republicans accused Cleveland of having an illegitimate child, which may have been true. They used the slogan, "Ma, Ma, where's my Pa!" taking a shot at Cleveland. Cleveland and the Democrats fired back that Blaine had been involved in railroad profit kickbacks and was an immoral man, using the slogan, "Blaine, Blaine, James G. Blaine, the continental liar from the state of Maine." The election of 1884 was very close, with Cleveland winning less than .5% of the popular vote, and winning in the electoral college by a vote of 219-182, winning the state of New York by less than 1,000 votes. Finally, a Democrat had won office for the first time since the Civil War began. Cleveland's first term in office included many merit based appointments, showing a trend that was going against the spoils system and giving friends government jobs. Cleveland also became unpopular by vetoing many bills in Congress that wanted to give Civil War veterans a pension, and also vetoed bills helping farmers out during tough times. Cleveland had entered the White House in 1885 as a bachelor, but that soon changed, and in 1886, Cleveland married Frances Folsom, becoming the first and only president to be married in the White House. Some issues like tariff reform and the continuing battle between the gold or silver standard hindered Cleveland's chance for re-election in 1888, and he was narrowly defeated, but just for a short time. The two items pictured here are medals/tokens from the 1884 campaign. The Blaine/Logan token is on the left, and the Cleveland/Hendricks token is on the right. Items like these normally had small holes drilled in the top so a ribbon or string could be put through and worn around your neck to show support for the candidate. Many Cleveland and Blaine items are rare, except the tokens, like these pictured, often under $50. Ribbons, jugate ferrotypes, and any 3-D items from the period are normally considered scarce.