Political Election Debates

William L. Benoit is a professor of communication studies at Ohio University.

• Chapter 1: IntroductionChapter 2: Theory and Method: Functional Theory of Political Campaign DiscourseChapter 3: American Presidential Campaign DebatesChapter 4: American Non-Presidential and World Political Campaign DebatesChapter 5: Incumbency in Political Campaign DebatesChapter 6: Campaign Phase in Political Campaign DebatesChapter 7: News Coverage of Political Campaign DebatesChapter 8: Issue Ownership, Functional Federalism, and Retrospective versus Prospective Voting in American Political Campaign DebatesChapter 9: ConclusionAppendix I. List of U.S. Presidential Primary, General, and Vice Presidential Campaign DebatesAppendix II. Viewers for American Presidential and Vice Presidential DebatesAppendix III. Forms of Policy and Character in Debates

This book is a must read for political communication scholars. It is rare to be offered a systematic, multi-faceted, and theoretically-driven analysis of a single election component. Benoit's content analysis of United States debates (presidential and non-presidential), as well as political debates conducted across the globe, is unrivaled.