Before Florida, there was a campaign. Though traditional on many levels of communication among candidates, media, and voters, the 2000 campaign also featured new and innovative communication approaches in the presidential, Congressional, and state elections. The Millennium Election highlights some of the most important campaign communication from the 2000 contests, looking at candidates' political messages, the media's campaign coverage, the impact of the Internet, and the political socialization of young voters. The authors' diverse studies and viewpoints show that we still have much to learn about traditional candidate-voter interactions as well as new forms of political communication―and these forms must work together to engage a new generation of voters. (view table of contents)

An analysis of the various forms of political communicaton found in a presidential campaign and the effects of its messages on voters. The 1996 campaign, constructed through the interplay of candidate, media and citizen voices, is presented as a model that can be applied to any political campaign.