Issue and strategy agenda-setting in the 2000 presidential primaries

This article builds on the previous research that focused more specifically on the condidate-media dynamic within the agenda-setting process and exten ds the research in the direction of strategy framing. Using VBPro, a comput er program for content analysis. 1.479 candidate press releases and 756 net work news stories were content-analyzed using key words in context frames. Results show significant positive correlation between candidate and media i ssue agendas. which were particularly strong for the Republican candidates. Appeals to audience frames were highly correlated between Republican candi dates and the media Aurocorrelations used to measure the direction of influ ence suggest that the relationship between candidates and media is reciproc al. However the process frames were significantly correlated only for McCai n and the networks, which may offer support for the appearance that McCain and the media had a "love-affair" during the 2000 presidential primary.