His quasi-political manager, Frank Bird, cleverly asked some Republicans at the state party convention in October to introduce a resolution endorsing Sumner for the senate seat. The idea of preemptively endorsing a senate candidate prior to the election was unheard of in Massachusetts. In pulling the trick, Bird forced state Republicans to put their support for or antagonism toward Sumner on record. Surprised and disorganized, most Republican attendees—even many of Sumner’s conservative critics—voted in favor of him, not knowing how to vote no.
