Presidential Debates The Challenge of Creating an Informed Electorate [Paperback]

With all their faults, presidential debates remain the best way for most voters to learn about candidates. This book in turn is one of the best ways to learn all the ins and outs about presidential debates. --Newton N. Minow

Presidential Debatesshould not be ignored....[It] is well researched, well written, and full of interesting ideas. --Columbia Journalism Review

Jamieson and Birdsell are unique in their historical approach to the practice of debate. Their defense of its contributions toward 'creating an informed electorate' is interesting, informative, and well documented. --Perspective

Kathleen Hall Jamiesonis Dean of the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. She has written two other books on political discourse--Packaging the PresidencyandEloquence in an Electronic Age--and has served on the 20th-Century Fund's Taskforce on Presidential Debates.David S. Birdsellis Assistant Professor at Baruch College and consultant to the Congressional Management Foundation.