U.S. Presidential Election of 1996

Losing to Win:The 1996 Elections and American Politics advances their groundbreaking research to electoral politics and continues their penetrating discussions of divided government, independent candidates, party platform, outsiderism, and campaign strategies.

Benoit, Blaney, and Pier apply the functional theory of political campaign discourse to the 1996 presidential campaign. They examine the use of strategies of acclaiming or self-praise, attacking the opponent, and defending or responding to attack. They investigate various message forms and all three parts of the campaign, from the primaries to the nominating conventions and the general election campaign.

Political campaigns are highly complex and sophisticated communication events: communication of issues, images, social reality, and persons. They are essential exercises in the creation, re-creation, and transmission of "significant symbols" through human communication. The essays in this text examine the key elements in that process throughout the 1996 presidential campaign.

This book is an examination of the central role of incumbency in the televised world of American presidential elections and analyzes how an individual incumbent, Bill Clinton, influenced the recurring and predictable patterns of televised news in ways that secured his reelection.

Seventeen of the most widely seen and heard speakers in history all have one thing in common: they were all seen and heard while engaged in national political debates as they sought the two highest offices Americans can bestow upon their countrymen. This book focuses on the most recent four of these individuals--Clinton, Dole, Gore, and Kemp--and the rhetorical centerpieces of their respective campaigns, the 1996 political campaign debates. This text explores the factors motivating the candidates to debate, the goals of each candidate in debating, the rhetorical strategies, and the effects of particular debates. The volume ends with insights into the patterns and trends of national political debating. This is an invaluable text for students and researchers of American political campaigns, the presidency, and rhetoric.

Moreland and Steed bring an overall analysis of presidential politics in the South together with a state-by-state analysis and updated data on the 1996 presidential elections in each southern state. The 1996 elections are placed within the context of recent party and electoral developments in the South, particularly as those relate to fundamental changes in the party system and the ascendancy of the Republican Party.

Benoit provides a comprehensive analysis of presidential spots from the inception of this important message form in 1952 through the most recent national campaign in 1996. He includes both primary and general spots as well as those from third party candidates.

This book describes, explains and reflects upon the 1996 presidential and congressional elections, covering the three phases of the political process: the major party nominations, general elections and the subsequent government organisations.

This text probes the deep philosophical and historical roots of recent presidential elections, combining political science, history and literature. It looks at almost two decades of American presidential elections.

Is election polling, properly done, the media's single greatest contribution to democracy? The polling scholars and practitioners whose research is presented in this volume lend ample support to this controversial claim by the editors.