 The Republicans nominated John Marshall Harlan , who had served in the Union Army . In joint debates across the state , McCreary stressed what many Kentuckians felt were abuses of power by Republican President Ulysses S. Grant during the Reconstruction Era . Harlan countered by faulting the state 's Democratic politicians for continuing to dwell on war issues almost a decade after the war 's end . He also attacked what he perceived as Democratic financial extravagance and the high number of pardons granted by sitting Democratic governor Preston Leslie . Harlan claimed these as evidence of widespread corruption in the Democratic Party . McCreary received solid support from the state 's newspapers , nearly all of which had Democratic sympathies . Despite a late infusion of cash and stump speakers in favor of his opponent , McCreary won the general election by a vote of 130 @,@ 026 to 94 @,@ 236 . 
