Fidelio

In our evolving American political culture, whites and blacks continue to respond very differently to race based messages and the candidates who use them. This work examines the use and influence such appeals have on voters in elections for federal office in which one candidate is a member of a minority group. The authors use various methods of analysis to examine candidates who play the race card in political advertisements. They offer an analysis of the construction of verbal and visual racial appeals and how the news media covers campaigns involving candidates of color. The book combines rigorous analyses with in-depth case studies, including an examination of race based appeals in the historic 2008 presidential election.