ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author examines the argumentative and narrative structures of such ads into order to assay their rhetorical engines. He discusses explicitly how it is that they both contribute to and detract from voter decision making as we understand that process within a democratic political framework. The author argues that difficult questions about relationships between negative ads and America's conceptions of citizenship, political process, and political culture, especially in presidential campaigns. The easiest way to begin an analysis of the rhetorical structure of negative ads is to look at a group that operates argumentatively. The gold standard of negative ads is the comparative spot, those advertisements where some aspects of candidates' personae or some stands they have taken are depicted as important dividing lines between people. A negative political advertisement is one that creates unattractive or undesirable images of one's political opponents.
