ABSTRACT
This chapter in particular explicates the three aforementioned visual frames: the ideal candidate, populist campaigner, and sure loser, then reports on their visual manifestation across election years and offers methodological observations on how to conduct image-based analysis. The chapter makes the case for the importance of analyzing audiovisual messages in political communication research and presents a content analysis methodology for reliable assessment of visual content in televised coverage of presidential elections. It suggests that visual frame construction of presidential candidates is richer and more nuanced than typically acknowledged in conventional framing research. Despite the tendency to define political campaigns on the basis of policy positions and issue stands, candidate character traits are of central interest to voters, image handlers, and journalists alike. Bill Clinton's 1996 campaign translated into an unremarkable but safe visual show on network news, particularly in comparison to Bob Dole's haphazard election bid.
