A case study examined the political campaign consultants' role as rhetor by analyzing consultant Robert Squier's strategy for Mike Sturdivant's 1983 Mississippi gubernatorial campaign. The examination compared Squier's ideal model (a "single vision" strategy) with a second model drawn from empirical data. Squier's strategy for the campaign, using the theme "businessman versus politicians," involved three stages: foundation, competency, and issue development, while the empirical model had four stages: legitimacy, identification, competency, and issue development. The study found three major principles relevant to the role of the political consultant as rhetor: legitimacy, maintenance of the media agenda, and development of the consultant's work as a campaign issue. Future studies need to differentiate between identification and definition roles of the consultants' expressive function in message construction. (JK)