The copperhead politicians were as active as the copperhead press. At their head was Mayor Wood, who ran for reëlection in the fall of 1861 and was opposed by Bryant’s friend George Opdyke. Called a blackguard by the _Tribune_ and a miscreant by the _Evening Post_, Wood based his campaign upon denunciation of the abolitionists and appeals to racial prejudice. In a speech reported by the _Post_ of Nov. 29 he declared that Lincoln had brought the nation to the verge of ruin, that the negro-philes would prosecute the war as long as they could share the money spent upon it, and that “they will get Irishmen and Germans to fill up the regiments under the idea that they will themselves remain at home to divide the plunder.” Just before election day the _Post_ gave part of its editorial page to the following bit of drama: FERNANDO IN A PORTER HOUSE AN OCCURRENCE UP-TOWN; NOT A FANCY SKETCH (_Scene: A porter house in the 22d ward. Proprietor behind the counter. Behind him a row of bottles, etc. Enter Fernando and a voter._) _Fernando_: Good morning, my dear friend. Please let me and my friend have something to drink. (_Glasses are set before them and a decanter. They help themselves. Fernando throws a double eagle upon the counter, waving away the offer to give back change._) You will support me, I suppose? _Proprietor_ (_quietly depositing the money in the till_): Yes, I shall support you for the State prison. You have been up for a place there, I believe. _Fernando_ (_going out and coming back_): By the way, you did not mean what you said just now? _Proprietor_: Yes, I did mean just that. You deserve State prison and would have gone there three years ago if you had not cheated the law. _Fernando_: Will you give me my change? _Proprietor_: No, I will not. I want it to show my neighbors how you tried to influence my vote. (_Exit Fernando, crestfallen_)