This book provides theory and research on political campaign messages. It adopts a communication perspective in relation to candidate and news media messages about campaigns. It focuses on U.S. presidential campaigns, but also discusses non-presidential campaigns and non-U.S. campaign messages. Both primary and general election campaigns are covered.

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.