Michael Dukakis lost the presidential campaign debates of 1988 (or at least failed to capitalize as much as he might have) because he understood the debates to be genuine debates. Consequently, Dukakis acted as a debater generating an image of himself as a "benevolent technocrat," which was an error. It must be pointed out that the…

A study was conducted to provide a comparative analysis of the 1984 presidential primary and general election debates, specifically in terms of the formats imposed upon them and the emergent candidate verbal behaviors. Ten Democratic nationally televised primary debates and three bipartisan nationally televised General Election debates were…

The academic community, news media, and public have expressed interest in debate as a vehicle to facilitate intelligent citizen evaluation of political candidates. This paper focuses on the format, criteria, and survey results of the "Election 80" television debates between congressional candidates from South Dakota, as compared with the…

Prepared by educators and researchers involved in argumentation and debate, the articles in this special journal issue are based upon the assumptions that presidential debates are important, are likely to continue, and are of unique interest to students, scholars, and practitioners of argument. The first two articles in the issue provide overviews…

Indicates that political debates on computer bulletin boards (primarily USENET) are characterized by aggressiveness, angry assertion, insult, and the attempt to humiliate opponents; but that they also display a high degree of formal regularity and are robust exercises in free speech, virtuosic in argument and language, and rare opportunities for…

Examines issue-learning outcomes in three intra-party political debates during the 1984 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. Finds significant viewer learning about the issue positions of each participating candidate, about most issues, and among all categories of viewers. (KEH)

Examines how the timing of Virginia's Ratification Convention twisted the principles of presumption and burden of proof in favor of the Federalists. Applies Richard Whately's rhetorical constructs to actual debates to analyze rhetorical strategies and voting behavior. Argues the need to modify the meaning of presumption and burden of proof. (KEH)

This paper examines past media research on presidential campaign debates, reviewing literature from the fields of mass communication, political science, and speech communication, and considering regulatory changes (e.g., debate sponsorship and equal time provisions) and the growth of primary and general debates as an institution. Beginning with…

This paper argues for the inclusion of content analysis in communication research designs and for the utility of this methodology in the examination of communication events. The first half of the paper describes four types of communication content that can be analyzed: unintentional messages, such as the verbal imagery used; unconscious speech,…

To examine the consequences of responsiveness in dyadic interaction, explore the effects of irrelevant response on listener processing and retention of content, and determine the impact of irrelevant responses on listener perception of speaker attributes, 108 college students were asked to read a debate between two fictitious political candidates…

This paper examines the overall effect of the 1976 presidential debates on the public's learning about issues and candidates, identifying several factors that are linked to campaign learning and that explain individual differences in the amount of learning that occurred from watching the debates. Findings presented in this paper are based on an…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 15 titles deal with the following topics: factors affecting group decisions regarding attributions of responsibility; a model of message-attitude-behavior relations; effects of the communicative process on perceived source…