Eric Foner: Honest Abe wouldn't be electable today

OMAHA - Abraham Lincoln was neither saint nor demon.

What he was, said historian Eric Foner, was a shrewd politician, a Republican who believed in his party and in keeping the union together.

What Abe couldn't do today is get elected, Foner said after speaking to about 100 students, instructors and fellow historians Wednesday at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery" said Lincoln tried to be a peacemaker among factions in the newly formed Republican party, he wasn't an avowed Christian and wasn't particularly handsome or charismatic. His running in 2012 would be doubtful....