Lincoln writes to U.S. Senator Lyman Trumbull, of Illinois, regarding the upcoming presidential election. Trumbull asked for Lincoln's opinion on the Republicans' chances of carrying Illinois against the Democrats' presumptive nominee U.S. Senator Stephen A. Douglas. Lincoln responds, "I will be entirely frank. The taste is in my mouth a little; and this, no doubt, disqualifies me, to some extent, to form correct opinions." Regarding U.S. Supreme Court Justice John McLean, Edward Bates, of Missouri, and U.S. Senator William H. Seward, of New York, Lincoln writes, "I think McLean is stronger . . . than either S. or B; and I think S. the weakest of the three." Lyman Trumbull to Abraham Lincoln, 24 April 1860, Robert Todd Lincoln Collection of the Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC; Abraham Lincoln to Lyman Trumbull, 29 April 1860, CW, 4:45-46.