This paper assesses the state of political communication as an emerging multidisciplinary effort and discusses two major varieties of political communication theory and research. The first section of the paper discusses the "effects" research tradition in mass and political communication, examines the impact of critiques of this position, and disucsses the manner in which the effects tradition is prepetuated in some current research. The second section characterizes the uses and gratifications approach as an alternative to the effects position, describes its advantages and difficulties, and evaluates its usefulness as the new political communication paradigm. The final section of the paper discusses two priorities in research and theory development for the future. These two priorities include the importance of conceptual analysis, and perceptual and interpretive processes. (TS)