The depression of the 1890s and episodes like the Pullman Strike made the election of 1896 shape up as a a conflict between the insurgent Populists and the two established political parties. b contest over the power of the federal government to manage a modern industrial economy like the United States. c battle between down-and-out workers and farmers and establishment conservatives. d sectional conflict with the West aligned against the Northeast and South. e clash of cultures between ordinary middle-class Americans and European-oriented radicals and reformers