Editing James G. Blaine (section)

== Party leader in exile ==
[[File:President Benjamin Harrison on ship.jpg|left|thumb|Blaine, [[Benjamin Harrison]], and [[Henry Cabot Lodge]] and their families on vacation in Bar Harbor, Maine.]]

Blaine accepted his narrow defeat and spent most of the next year working on the second volume of ''Twenty Years of Congress.''{{sfn|Muzzey|pp=326–341}} The book continued to earn him enough money to support his lavish household and pay off his debts.{{sfn|Muzzey|pp=326–341}} Although he spoke to friends of retiring from politics, Blaine still attended dinners and commented on the Cleveland administration's policies.{{sfn|Muzzey|pp=341–343}} By the time of the [[1886 United States House elections|1886 Congressional elections]], Blaine was giving speeches and promoting Republican candidates, especially in his home state of Maine.{{sfn|Muzzey|pp=347–348}} Republicans were successful in Maine, and after the Maine elections in September, Blaine went on a speaking tour from Pennsylvania to Tennessee, hoping to boost the prospects of Republican candidates there.{{sfn|Muzzey|pp=348–349}} Republicans were less successful nationwide, gaining seats in the House while losing seats in the Senate, but Blaine's speeches kept him and his opinions in the spotlight.{{sfn|Muzzey|pp=348–349}}

Blaine and his wife and daughters sailed for Europe in June 1887, visiting England, Ireland, Germany, France, [[Austria-Hungary]], and finally [[Scotland]], where they stayed at the summer home of [[Andrew Carnegie]].{{sfn|Muzzey|pp=354–359}} While in France, Blaine wrote a letter to the ''[[New-York Tribune]]'' criticizing Cleveland's plans to reduce the tariff, saying that free trade with Europe would impoverish American workers and farmers.{{sfnm|Muzzey||1pp=361–369|Crapol||2p=106}} The family returned to the United States in August 1887.{{sfn|Muzzey|pp=354–359}} His letter in the ''Tribune'' had raised his political profile even higher, and by 1888 [[Theodore Roosevelt]] and [[Henry Cabot Lodge]], both former opponents, urged Blaine to run against Cleveland again.{{sfnm|Muzzey||1pp=361–369|Crapol||2p=106}} Opinion within the party was overwhelmingly in favor of renominating Blaine.{{sfnm|Muzzey||1pp=368–372|Crapol||2pp=106–107}}

As the state conventions drew nearer, Blaine announced that he would not be a candidate.{{sfnm|Muzzey||1pp=368–372|Crapol||2pp=106–107}} His supporters doubted his sincerity and continued to encourage him to run, but Blaine still demurred.{{sfnm|Muzzey||1pp=368–372|Crapol||2pp=106–107}} Hoping to make his intentions clear, Blaine left the country and was staying with Carnegie in Scotland when the [[1888 Republican National Convention]] began in Chicago.{{sfn|Muzzey|pp=372–374}} Carnegie encouraged Blaine to accept if the convention nominated him, but the delegates finally accepted Blaine's refusal.{{sfn|Muzzey|pp=372–374}} John Sherman was the most prominent candidate and sought to attract the Blaine supporters to his candidacy, but instead found them flocking to former senator [[Benjamin Harrison]] of Indiana after a telegram from Carnegie suggested that Blaine favored him.{{sfnm|Muzzey||1pp=375–382|Calhoun||2pp=47–52}} Blaine returned to the United States in August 1888 and visited Harrison at his home in October, where twenty-five thousand residents paraded in Blaine's honor.{{sfn|Muzzey|p=383}} Harrison defeated Cleveland in a close election, and offered Blaine his former position as Secretary of State.{{sfnm|Muzzey||1pp=387–391|Calhoun||2pp=58–61}}