Republican presidential nominee Lincoln writes to political ally Cassius M. Clay, of Kentucky, and thanks him for campaigning in Indiana on Lincoln's behalf. "At the close of the tour," Lincoln asks Clay to "drop me a line, giving your impression of our prospects in that state." Lincoln suggests that Clay would aid the campaign by speaking in Illinois, and proposes that Clay "commenc[e] say, at Marshall, in Clark county, and thence South and West, along our Wabash and Ohio river border." Lincoln adds, "In passing, let me say, that at Rockport [Indiana] you will be in the county within which I was brought up from my eigth year—having left Kentucky at that point of my life." Abraham Lincoln to Cassius M. Clay, 20 July 1860, CW, 4:85.