ABSTRACT
The campaign began with John Williams' statement that the federal deficit had to be reduced even if it meant spending less for social programs. Candidates have the greatest control over the messages they generate, less control over what the media does with and to their messages, and even less control over how the messages are heard. Our knowledge of voters' ability to construct candidate images, on the spot, sometimes appears at odds with other knowledge we have about voters and their interactions with election campaigns. The first "fact sheet" statement about Williams was: "Williams sees the federal deficit as a major problem facing the country and calls for cuts in social programs to reduce the deficit." Jimmy Carter was unknown outside of Georgia when he began his run for the presidency. In the 1980s and in 1992 the civil rights argument has frequently been equated with "quotas."
