The Victor of the 1976 Presidential Horse Race: Jimmy Carter, David S. Broder, and the 1976 Campaign Season

• In Event: ICA Plenary Interactive Paper/Poster Session and Reception
  In Interactive Paper Session: Communication History Interactive Poster Session

Abstract

On November 1, 1976, Washington Post columnist David S. Broder offered a retrospective account of the 1976 campaign season. The column was representative of Broder’s year-long campaign coverage, possessing horse-race analysis, character sketches, and political plotlines woven together with a dose of transparency about the task of campaign coverage, features that would become characteristic of much campaign journalism in the post-Watergate era. This study examines the role that the prominent columnist played in contributing to the image of Jimmy Carter and in constituting the form of political journalism in the post-Watergate era.

Author

• Lori Amber Roessner, University of Tennessee