Lincoln appeals to Judd. He says that while it would not hurt him to miss nomination, it would be harmful if he should not get Illinois delegation. Judd's enemies are bitter against him, and for revenge will "lay to the Bates egg in the South, and to the Seward egg in the North, and go far toward squeezing me out in the middle with nothing. Can you not help me a little in this matter?" Lincoln also writes to his old friend, Josiah M. Lucas, explaining that he did not support Lucas for House postmaster because there was no time for action. Abraham Lincoln to Norman B. Judd, 9 February 1860, CW, 3:517; Abraham Lincoln to Josiah M. Lucas, 9 February 1860, CW, 3:517-18.

Lincoln writes to Chicago Democrat newspaper editor John Wentworth in an attempt to mediate a dispute between Wentworth and another prominent Chicago Republican, Norman B. Judd. Judd is the chair of the Illinois Republican State Central Committee, and he is suing Wentworth for libel. Lincoln suggests that Wentworth "write, sign and place on the files of the court" a statement in which he denies deliberately impugning Judd's reputation. Lincoln adds that both men should "in good faith, let one another alone." Abraham Lincoln to John Wentworth, 9 February 1860, CW, 11:18-19.