Not just a sectional party, but a party hostile to all Southern economic and political interests.

Remember that Harper's Ferry and the trial of John Brown and his followers took place just months before the campaign began. Senate investigation into individuals who financed the operation and purchased boxes of Sharps rifles and Colt revolvers found just across the Potomac continued into the campaign.

[If Harper's Ferry had happened today, people in the north would claim that secessionists sponsored Brown in order to start a war.]

To my knowledge Lincoln didn't campaign in any Southern state, and didn't propose new policies or laws that would interest Southern voters.