A Lincoln Delegate question.

[123tim]

OK. I'll admit this up front - I'm not very smart when it comes to politics (and a lot of other things.) I've been wondering about comments made about Lincoln winning the nomination going in with a minimal number of delegates.

I did some googling and came up with a document titled "How Lincoln Won the 1860 Republican Nomination"

The Link:
http://www.greatamericanhistory.net/nomination.htm

Could someone tell me if the events described in this document are anything like the situation that we have this year?

I know that Lincoln won the nomination going in with only 22 delegates, but it seems like there were a lot less delegates to go around for everyone ("233 votes to win the nomination?")

Could someone who understands this compare 2008 with 1860?
1.) Is this the same type of circumstance?
2.) Are the 1860 delegate numbers comparable with ours today?

Any other enlightening comments or answers would be appreciated as well.

Thanks in advance for any reply.

[nate895]

That would be about 100 delegates today if we are looking for equivalents. Our situation is different, we need stealth delegates from any state we can.