Long's support for civil service reform aligned him with the congressional "[[Half-Breeds]]" faction. Along with [[Henry Dawes]] and Massachusetts senator [[George F. Hoar]], he tasked to formulate a strategy for the [[United States presidential election, 1880|1880 presidential election]].<ref>Welch, Richard E., Jr. (1968). [https://vermonthistory.org/journal/misc/GeorgeEdmunds.pdf George Edmunds of Vermont: Republican Half-Breed]. ''Vermont History''. Retrieved December 22, 2021.</ref>
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Long's support for civil service reform aligned him with the congressional "[[Half-Breeds]]" faction. Along with [[Henry Dawes]] and Massachusetts senator [[George F. Hoar]], he tasked to formulate a strategy for the [[United States presidential election, 1880|1880 presidential election]].<ref name=halfbreedrepublicans>Welch, Richard E., Jr. (1968). [https://vermonthistory.org/journal/misc/GeorgeEdmunds.pdf George Edmunds of Vermont: Republican Half-Breed]. ''Vermont History''. Retrieved December 22, 2021.</ref>
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Ultimately, the devised strategy was to push for staunch Half-Breed Vermont senator [[George F. Edmunds]] at the [[Republican National Convention]] to avoid nominating either [[Ulysses S. Grant]], a favorite of the opposing congressional [[Stalwart]]s, or [[James G. Blaine]], both of which opposed civil service reform.<ref name=halfbreedrepublicans/> Two factors contributed to caution surrounding the strategy, one being an abundance of carefulness not to reveal their plans too soon and the other pertaining to Edmunds' lack of enthusiasm for becoming president.