The next American president will likely be the candidate who crafts the best "impression" in the media. It is the job of social studies teachers to help students separate impressions from substance and to understand the role that media play in crafting people's meaning making and shaping their decision making. Social studies teachers can help students to recognize the epistemology of media construction by integrating interactive decoding into the history curriculum and by helping them understand the central role that media have played throughout the history of American elections. Examples of past media messages are included.(Contains 5 notes.)