This volume provides an introduction to political communication in America. Filled with examples, it is broad-based in its theoretical approach and takes a multi-perspective approach to politics and the press by looking at phenomena from a variety of points of view. This book's first section examines the media and government institutions, looking at the stormy relationship between the press and the presidency, contemporary press-presidential relations, presidential rhetoric, Congress and the media and the local news. The second section examines takes a more social scientific approach, looking at theories to the Clinton health reform campaign. The final section examines the media and presidential politics. It introduces the changes wrought by the structural and political forces of the past 50 years, examines the news media's role in the nomination process, the nature of presidential news and its impact, political advertising and presidential debates. The epilogue adds perspective to the discussion by focussing on the 1996 election.