What the Candidates Said: Compare speeches: “Speeches used in this project were, in as many cases as possible, those given by the candidates in acceptance of their party’s nomination. James M. Cox, the Democratic candidate in 1920, accepted his nomination in a telegram of about 125 words; for his portion, this analysis relies on a commentary piece he wrote and published in the New York Times before and after the convention. The acceptance statement of William Jennings Bryan, the Democratic candidate in 1900, was short, under 400 words, so the words that are proportionally most prominent appear fewer times than the most prominent words of other candidates’ speeches.”