When Do Candidates Attack? A Studyof Negative Campaigning in a Big-City Mayoral Election.

In this research we compare the incidence of candidate attacks in newspaper coverage and television advertising using data from the 2001 Los Angeles mayoral election. Attack data are generated from a content analysis of Los Angeles Times? election stories and candidates? television advertising. In addition to testing hypotheses related to the competitive positioning of candidates, we explore how attacks in each medium affect attacks in the other medium. While competitive positioning is significantly related to television attacks, it has little effect on attacks in newspapers. Prior attacks in the press lead to more attacks in both newspapers and on television. But, the number of prior television attacks significantly reduces the likelihood of future television attacks. What this suggests is that the incidence of attack is, in part, a function of the medium employed. We also find evidence that patterns of attack reflect the nature of the local election system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]