This book is based on the Functional Theory of Political Campaign Discourse. It adopts a communication perspective to campaigns for public office. It discusses medium (e.g., speeches TV spots, debates, social media), sources of campaign messages, context (e.g., primary vs. general campaign), audience (voters and how they process messages), news coverage of election campaigns, and non-presidential and non-U.S. election messages.

William L. Benoit (Ph.D., Wayne State University and Distinguished Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Alabama, Birmingham) developed and applied the Functional Theory of Political Campaign Discourse. He has published extensively (20 books and hundreds of journal articles and book chapters). He dabbles in art; he painted the artwork on the cover of this book (and others).