Martin Van Buren worked hard to build his friendship and political alliance with President Jackson and these efforts came to fruition in 1836 when Van Buren ran as Jackson's chosen successor. In fact, it appears that Jackson and key members of the Democratic Party had rallied behind Van Buren as their candidate for 1836 as much as two years before that contest. Van Buren had little trouble securing the nomination, winning it on a unanimous, first ballot vote at the convention. Van Buren's running mate was Congressman Richard Johnson of Kentucky.
Martin Van Buren presented his candidacy as a continuation of Jackson's policies, which it was. Many voters, particularly in Democratic strongholds like Pennsylvania, Virginia, and his native New York, …show more content…
They flooded the public with promotional odds and ends—sewing boxes, cigar tins, whiskey bottles, and pennants with the Whig slogan, "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too." One Whig rally drew 60,000 people to the rural site of one of Harrison's military victories, an amazing turnout at a time when travel was difficult. When a Democratic newspaper sneeringly wrote of Harrison "Give him a barrel of hard cider and settle a pension of two thousand a year on him…and take my word for it, he will sit the remainder of his days in his log cabin," the Whigs promptly anointed Harrison the "Log Cabin and Hard Cider" candidate, cementing his homespun image. It mattered little that Harrison's background, wealth, and education belied his new moniker The Whigs, for their part, attacked Van Buren mercilessly. Whig glee clubs sang "Van, Van, is a used-up man," Whig representative Charles Ogle (PA) unleashed a vicious and lurid attack from the floor of the House in April 1840 that gained national attention, and the party gave Van Buren a new nick-name: "Martin Van Ruin." Things grew even uglier when Whigs publicized the allegations which were true—that Vice President Richard Johnson had had several affairs with African American