Problem Statement: The accounts written and broadcast by journalists during the 1984 presidential campaign created a rhetorical portrayal of Geraldine Ferraro. My primary interest was to discover, interpret and evaluate the rhetoric of this portrayal which emerged during the summer and fall of 1984. In order to accomplish this critical task, I drew upon Ernest Bormann's symbolic covergence theory and the methodology of fantasy theme analysis. Answers to the following specific questions guided my critical efforts: 1. What dominant fantasy themes did the media generate and dramatize about Geraldine Ferraro? 2. What was the ultimate, composite persona which evolved through the news media fantasies? 3. Through the use of fantasy theme analysis, what can be learned about the media's rhetorical ability to shape public perception of political personae? 4. Conversely, through the use of fantasy theme analysis, what can be learned about a political candidate's rhetorical ability to counter media-created fantasy themes? 5. Finally, what, if anything, can be said about the efficacy of fantasy theme analysis as a critical tool for analysis/criticism of news coverage of political candidates? The research questions are related in that they focus on how the rhetorical reality surrounding a candidate comes into existence by and through the media, and how this reality contributes to the public's coming to know a candidate. Justification The rhetorical analysis of the news media's rhetoric surrounding Ferraro's campaign is relevant because of its timeliness. Although the 1988 election has passed, the events surrounding Ferraro's campaign have not yet faded from the public's memory. During the 1988 election campaign, the media referred to the fact that Ferraro's campaign contributed to the change in the way the public views women candidates for the highest national office. The 1988 campaign produced no female candidate on either major party ticket, but some future election most likely will. By analyzing the fantasy themes generated by the news media, the analysis makes contributions to the fields of mass media and political communication, and communication theory. The print and television media are forces with which the public must contend. Rhetoric of the news media about a candidate becomes a mediated reality by which the public comes to know a candidate. In addition, fantasy theme analysis and its larger area, symbolic convergence theory, continue to play a role in the burgeoning field of communication theory. In addition, the importance of studying the media's rhetoric and the portrayal of Ferraro are connected to the mass communication theory known as the multistep flow of communication, a successor to Paul Lazarsfeld's two-step flow hypothesis. The two-step flow suggested that the mass media had an indirect impact on the audience via opinion leaders in the community. But studies have shown the two-step flow was oversimplified and has been replaced by the multistep flow which recognizes that there are complex chains of communication flow between opinion leaders and other people in the community. Relating the multistep theory to political campaigns, the theory can be used to explain how readers and viewers of the media rhetoric of Ferraro's campaign passed messages to other people when they discussed the campaign. The multistep flow shows the role a small group can play within society and the messages society receives via mass media.