This 44-item bibliography, limited to the television era of American politics, is intended to assist teachers of debate, argumentation, and political communication; researchers of campaign debates; and debate sponsors and participants. Scholarly books and monographs; public affairs books, monographs and papers; academic articles and chapters from…

Examines voters' evaluative structures used in making decisions about political candidates, specifically regarding election level and candidates' incumbent-challenger status. Concludes that incumbent positioning affects perceptual criteria formation for candidates. Reports that voting behavior predictions can be made when candidate idiosyncracies…

A rhetorical analysis of the 1984 vice-presidential debate between George Bush and Geraldine Ferraro was conducted to determine argumentation tactics, argumentation flaws, reasoning strategies, and other rhetorical characteristics. The results indicated that the format of the debate allowed for little actual direct confrontation between…

A study examined the evaluative structures employed by voters in making decisions about political contenders, specifically as a function of the level of the election involved and the incumbent-challenger status of the candidates. Data were obtained by questionnaires administered within two weeks prior to the 1984 general election to 550…

Drawing from political science, sociology, and communication literature, this paper provides a review of research dealing with political candidate image to show the various ways this concept has been treated by scholars. The paper begins with an examination of the rationales offered by researchers for the study of image, then addresses the…

Examines the influence of five communication modalities on voters' perceptions of candidates. Finds that political talk-radio exerted the greatest influence on voters' perceptions of Bob Dole and considerable impact on perceptions of Steve Forbes. Finds also that prospective voters' conversations with other people, television news, and candidate…

This paper provides an overview of the development of sponsors for primary and general election debates at the presidential level and considers the various sponsorship alternatives for future debates. From a historical perspective, the paper discusses the major role that the broadcasting industry played in the early presidential debates and…

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 study examined the verbal message strategies employed in the two 1988 presidential debates by Vice-President George Bush and Governor Michael Dukakis, independently and comparatively. A number of broad verbal categories were developed to code the messages of each candidate from videotapes and transcripts. Verbal characteristics under…

Noting that television debates have become a regular feature of the media politics by which candidates seek office, this annotated bibliography is particularly intended to assist teachers and researchers of debate, argumentation, and political communication. The 40 citations are limited to the television era of American politics and categorized as…