Despite gains in recent years, women still win political office much less frequently than men do. One reason might be that women may not receive the same response from the media as do their male counterparts. The research study explored this possibility by investigating: (1) differences in the methods used by the mass media to portray male and female U.S. Senate candidates; (2) whether these differences influence peoples' evaluations of candidates; and (3) whether a candidate's gender influences peoples' evaluations of them. Content analysis of 26 senate races, the development of four prototype newspaper articles representing coverage patterns for male and female incumbents and male and female challengers, and a questionnaire were used to determine perceptions of candidates' competence and traits. Findings indicate that people's evaluations of candidates appear to be affected by the sex stereotypes they have about male and female candidates and by the type of coverage candidates receive. Media coverage effects are especially strong for incumbents. Five tables, 26 references, the newspaper articles, and the questionnaire are included. (JHP)