Da expectativa de vitória à derrota: estratégias discursivas do PT em Curitiba e Porto Alegre em 2004

the 2004 municipal elections were the first held after the workers party (pt) reached the presidency. this research is interested in identifying the discursive strategy adopted by the party, which was in the path of moderation. as the object of analysis we chose the strategies adopted by the party in the elections in porto alegre and curitiba. the choice of the two capitals was based on the difference between the political scenarios and the insertion of the pt in disputes in both. in porto alegre, the party occupied the local government, while in curitiba it was in the opposition. we adopted a methodology based on the proposal prepared by marcus figueiredo for the study of electoral spots, adapted by us to the analysis of the horario gratuito de propaganda eleitoral [free time for electoral propaganda]. we can say that the pt that was defeated did not adopt a standard rhetorical strategy. but there were many similarities in the strategies of their opponents.