Since voters rarely have access to a candidate's unexpurgated statements, they rely on political advertising, film footage, and media interpretations. Thus, their expectations of candidates generally reflect selective reporting and self-aggrandizement. A framework for researching the degree of understanding reached between politicians and the public may be seen through the use of the coorientation model used in interpersonal research. A content analysis was prepared from transcripts of the first of the series of presidential debates in both 1960 and 1976, classified in terms of topics, issues, and other categories relevant to a candidate's political philosophy. A profile of each candidate's philosophy was prepared and compared to his revealed position. Postelection disillusionment was found to be proportional to the degree of variance between these positions. Such research in conjunction with measures of public perceptions should enable political communication researchers to understand performance in office and subsequent support demonstrated for elected leaders. (References and tabulated analysis data are included.) (DF)