Congressional Candidates' Issue Agendas On- and Off-line

Abstract

We explore differences in House candidates' campaign agendas across Web sites and televised ads, comparing the size and scope of their online and off-line issue priorities, their patterns of partisan issue ownership and issue trespassing, and the extent of issue convergence with the agendas of their opponents. Our results, based on a sample of 129 candidates in the 2000 election, indicate that Web and ad agendas are similar in a number of ways but that differences do exist across the venues. These differences have important theoretical implications for our understanding of candidate behavior and campaign effects as well as important practical implications for political communication researchers choosing venues for study.