Running in the Shadows in Campaign 2000: Candidate Metaphors in Editorial Cartoons

Editorial cartoons contribute to candidate image development by offering condensed & simplified metaphoric portrayals. This study identifies the rhetorical fantasia advanced by cartoonists in their metaphors about Al Gore & George Bush through five themes of leadership during the early months of Campaign 2000: character, competence, viability, independence, & charisma. The cartoons reflected overall campaign strategies by attaching character issues to Gore & competence issues to Bush. However, the campaign was overshadowed by the outside influence of preceding presidents, calling into question the independence of the candidates, which may have fueled the ambivalent results of the election. 66 References. Adapted from the source document.