In National Political Reporting, students will follow one of the presidential candidates as they move through the primaries. The goal will be to understand how a campaign works: What forces determine what a candidate says, to whom and in which mediums. We’ll study the role of campaign finance, interest groups, the party and the media. We’ll also look carefully at the language candidates use, and what iconic American political words like “freedom,” “democracy” and “progress” actually mean. In addition, we’ll read some of the best campaign and political writing of recent decades—so students can examine how this kind of reporting and writing is done.