McKinley's only competition for the Republican nomination in 1896 was Speaker Thomas Reed of Maine, but McKinley was the better campaigner and Hanna had built a network of support especially in corrupt southern state conventions. With McKinley as the 1896 Republican nominee Hanna became Chairman of the [[Republican National Committee]], raised an unprecedented $3.5 million for McKinley's campaign for the [[gold standard]], high tariffs, high wages, [[pluralism]] and renewed prosperity. Most of the money came from corporations who feared that [[William Jennings Bryan]]'s more radical [[Free Silver]] policy would ruin the entire economy.
By October the [[U.S. Democratic Party, History|Democrats]] realized they were losing on Bryan's favorite issue (free silver to cause inflation) and targeted Hanna as the arch-villain who threatened to put corporate interests ahead of the national interest. As McKinley was highly likable, Hanna became a target of Bryanites, especially [[William Randolph Hearst]] and his ''[[New York Journal]]'', with cartoonists like Davenport portraying him as a bloated sinister figure with a cruel face, wearing a suit decorated with dollar signs.<ref> Jeansonne, 1988 </ref>
Hanna's campaign employed 1,400 people, who unleashed a flood of 250 million pamphlets, leaflets, posters, and stump speakers who reached every precinct warning of the dangers of Free Silver and Bryan's radicalism, while promising prosperity and pluralism for all if McKinley won. McKinley scored a landslide with an electoral vote of 271 to 176.
It was the most expensive campaign ever in U.S. politics, with the McKinley campaign outspending Bryan's by nearly 12 to 1. It set the standard for 20th century campaign tactics and funding, especially for its adroit use of publicity, its overall national plan, its strategic use of issues, and especially the candidate's own speech making.
[[Image:~HANNA96.jpg|thumb|300px|In 1896 liberal Democrat [[William Randolph Hearst]] published this savage cartoon (by Davenport) in the ''New York Journal'' to hurt McKinley. It shows Hanna as a bloated slavedriver sitting on $$$$ killings and exploiting the laboring men.]]
Most important, Hanna nationalized presidential elections. No longer would candidates passively allow the state organizations to dominate the campaign; in conjunction with Bryan's unprecedented whistle-stop campaign that delivered over 500 speeches in 90 days, American election campaigning was permanently revolutionized.<ref> Jensen, (1971)</ref> See [[American election campaigns, 19th century]]
==Election to U.S. Senate==
President McKinley appointed elderly Senator [[John Sherman]] to the cabinet, opening the way for the Ohio legislature to elect Hanna to the senate seat in March 1897. As the economy recovered and the triumph of the Spanish-American War bolstered McKinley's popularity, the 1900 rematch was a decisive victory which Hanna again orchestrated and guaranteed Republican dominance of the [[Fourth Party System]]. [[Image:1900HA.jpg|thumb|left|350px|Farmer Hanna (far right) prepares for the 1900 campaign by loading up with with patronage, money and promises]]
In the Senate Hanna became a leader in policy formation. Emerging from McKinley's shadow he played an key role in selecting the Panama route for the trans-oceanic canal. Senator Hanna was, however, disappointed at his failure to resurrect the Commonwealth Idea in support of granting governmental subsidies to the merchant marine.