The modern US Presidential campaign is an electoral behemoth, stretching from the first primaries to the ultimate election day. It's marked by campaign trails, debates, stump meetings and last ditch-hauling and calling. I was wondering how the early elections in the US were run (say those before the Civil War).
In particular:
Sorry for the wikipedia link, but the page has a reasonable list of good sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1800#cite_ref-Ferling_2004_3-0
The election of 1800 was well noted for the ideological differences between the parties competing for the presidency. Because of this there was intense campaigning and press attention which made the election cycle very familiar in a modern sense.