As the population was scattered over such a vast area and communication was slow how was the population kept informed on developments regarding a candidate's campaign? Additionally how did a candidate go about attempting to persuade people to vote for them?
The 1896 election was pretty interesting with very different campaigns. William McKinley got the Republican nomination the old fashioned way by using surrogates to advocate for him and make backroom deals with regional party bosses. William Jennings Bryan famously got the Democratic nomination by making his rousing "Cross of Gold" speech at the DNC.
After the conventions McKinley conducted a "front porch" campaign. Groups would travel from all over the country to visit his home where McKinley would give speeches off his front porch. He would shake hands, take pictures, and the press would write stories about it.
While William Jennings Bryan traveled the country by rail doing speeches. He visited 27 different states.