1860 WI: John Bell had nominated Sam Houston as his running mate

[Kingpoleon]

What if Johm Bell had nominated Sam Houston as his running mate?

Discuss with or without maps.

[Present]

Instead of Edward Everett, who was more popular in the North, Sam Houston would have been more popular in the Slave states (especially the western ones). His popularity in Texas would probably let Bell win that state and it would give Bell the extra .2% needed to win Missouri. Most of the votes, except from Texas, mostly would have come from Douglas I suppose.
Therefore, at worst, I think the map would look like this:

If Sam Houston proves popular enough, I think other could could have been conceivably flipped as well. They could be: .8% for Maryland, 4.9 for Louisiana (which had 15.1% voting for Douglas), and possibly even 3.8% for North Carolina if they could take away enough votes from Breckenridge.
Therefore, at best, the map could look like this:

Personally, I hope a weak showing for the Democrats would have caused fewer states to succeed (such as Virginia or Texas). It would be a fascinating timeline.

[Kingpoleon]

Present, do you think it's possible a stronger Bell might force Douglas to campaign more in Illinois, California, Oregon, and Indiana, winning those states and sending to the House?

[Present]

Present, do you think it's possible a stronger Bell might force Douglas to campaign more in Illinois, California, Oregon, and Indiana, winning those states and sending to the House?

Yes, I think it is possible, but a change is Lincoln's EC victories would not be that likely. The Bell/Houston ticket would most likely take away most of their votes from Douglas. He would have to campaign harder in Missouri to win that state (since Bell was .2% away). Additionally, the Pacific Coast would, in my mind, be more receptive to the Constitutional Unionist ticket causing Douglas to be handicapped there as well. Indiana and Ohio had about a 10% Lincoln advantage, and Illinois was already a hard fought state between the Democrat and the Republican.
If Bell/Houston had a best case scenario run and Douglas gave up on slave states, I think the max Douglas could reach would be something like this:

Again, I don't think that Bell had only a small chance of doing this good and Douglas campaigning solely in the free states. Oh, Douglas also wouldn't have been in the top three EC winners. In retrospect, he had less chance of becoming President than a Donald Trump/Herman Cain ticket.