Nothing shapes political campaign more than words and images. In this course, we will examine the various ways candidates and their teams use words and images to shape the message of their campaigns and how that carefully crafted message often goes awry. We’ll look at real-time examples from the ongoing 2018 midterm elections and the early stages of the 2020 presidential race and also draw from past campaigns using clips from candidate speeches, debates, news clips, campaign ads, political memorabilia, and social media. Throughout the semester, we will take a critical look at the role the news media play in distributing, interpreting, and analyzing these messages over the long course of a national campaign.