A study investigated the relationship of campaign media attention to cognition, strength of the commitment to the candidate choice, and probability of voting. The 1985 gubernatorial campaign in Virginia was selected for analysis. A model constructed for predicting voting tendencies hypothesizes that the role of the mass media is largely indirect, affecting voters through its effects on cognition. Data were collected through 388 telephone interviews conducted with randomly selected subjects in October 1985. Data analysis indicated that news media attention to the campaign did appear to have both direct and indirect effects on the probability of voting. References, figures and tables are appended. (DF)