Rent, buy or borrow a video of the 1998 movie Primary Colors. The BC Media Center has the film.

Political communication, vital in a democracy, is heightened during national elections and involves many methods for "getting out the message" about a particular candidate. To win the party nomination for president, leading members of a particular political party compete in State primary elections to demonstrate that voters want them to be the party's candidate in the Presidential election. Primary Colors, a 1998 film based on a book of the same name authored By "Anonymous", depicts Jack Stanton, played by John Travolta, as a Southern governor, and his campaign team, which includes his ambitious wife, Susan, played by Emma Thompson, and the campaign aide, Henry Burton, the son of a famous and revered civil rights leader. (Note: Anonymous was later revealed to be a journalist who covered and traveled with the campaign of Bill Clinton.)

You should take notes during the watching of the film. Draw on the functions of political communication and elections from the textbook in answering the following questions:

1. What did the campaign staff and candidate feel was the most important message to Communicate to the voters?

2. How did the campaign staff and candidate "get the message out" to the voters?

3. What is a "negative" campaign?

4. Discuss the strategies of conducting a negative campaign.

5. Discuss the reasons for conducting a negative campaign.

6. Discuss the motivation of Henry Burton in working for this campaign.

7. Why did the election turn out the way it did?