This revised and updated edition remains the only book-length rhetorical analysis of national political debates from 1960 to the present. The contributors, all rhetorical critics, answer important questions about political debating in the United States, including: Why is the press involved in political debates? Why are debates likely to be an enduring part of our presidential campaigns? Why are some candidates successful as debaters while others are not? Chapter authors offer insight into the goals commonly shared by political debaters and the rhetorical strategies most frequently used by national political debaters. By providing an overall analysis of a variety of debate practices, this book demonstrates how debates have become more than just campaign spectacles, but rather complex, calculated political events with significant consequences. Predebate, debate, and postdebate strategies are considered in depth in these microanalyses. Scholars and students of speech communication, particularly those concerned with political communication, will find this volume noteworthy, as will those in the related disciplines of political science, history, and journalism.

Robert V. Friedenberg is Professor Emeritus of Communication at Miami (Ohio) University, USA. He is the author of numerous books, book chapters, and articles. He has served as a communication consultant for the Republican National Committee and has been involved in more than seventy political campaigns.