HOT ! MSNBC hoodwinked by Repub pollster Frank Luntz !

kentuck

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Thu Aug-14-03 07:52 AM
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HOT ! MSNBC hoodwinked by Repub pollster Frank Luntz !

http://www.prospect.org/webfeatures/2003/08/blumenthal-m-08-13.html

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Still another consultant who has been instrumental in setting the recall in motion -- and profiting from it -- is the Washington-based Luntz, a former pollster for Enron and Newt Gingrich. His services were retained by Issa's Rescue California to develop an anti-Davis strategy based on focus-group research conducted in Orange and Sacramento counties. His memo, provided in July by U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to the San Francisco Chronicle, outlined 17 ways to "kill Davis softly." "It is important to trash the governor," Luntz wrote, but he added, "Issues are less important than attributes and character traits in your recall effort." Luntz pointed out that the majority of Californians "are unfamiliar with the recall process -- and this uncertainty means voters can be easily swayed in either direction."

Luntz's tactics were on bold display during Schwarzenegger's boisterous Tonight Show appearance. The actor used the spot to announce his surprise candidacy while launching a withering attack on Davis and the Sacramento establishment before a national audience. Carefully avoiding mentioning the budget or any policy, Schwarzenegger boomed the Luntz-tested line, "Do your job for the people and do it well, otherwise you are 'Hasta la vista, baby!'"

....much, much more...
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Why did Arnold change consultants???
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On Aug. 13, Schwarzenegger shuffled his team, demoting Gorton and adding another consultant embroiled in the Quackenbush scandal, Martin Wilson, who accepted $375,000 from the former insurance commissioner. Gorton's role as Schwarzenegger's chief strategist has been assumed by Bob White, Gov. Wilson's former chief of staff. The move highlights Schwarzegger's close ties to Wilson, who is persona non grata among Latino voters for his support of the anti-immigrant initiative Prop. 187 in 1994.

After The Tonight Show, Gorton told a reporter from the San Francisco Chronicle that he was unaware of Schwarzenegger's intentions prior to the program. Besides his impending demotion, there are other signs that Gorton may have been telling the truth. Russo recounts a series of private meetings, while Schwarzenegger was in Mexico City promoting Terminator 3, between Gorton and former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, who lost to Simon in the 2002 Republican gubernatorial primary. As Russo explained to me, Gorton was planning to jump ship and join Riordan's campaign if Schwarzenegger did not declare, moving from one self-funding client to the next.

But Schwarzenegger's announcement came as the greatest shock to Issa, who had already spent some of his car-alarm fortune to warm up a gubernatorial campaign. He had taken out radio ads, printed up posters and hired a new team of consultants, including Ken Khachigian, a veteran speechwriter who served on President Richard Nixon's 1972 campaign "attack group," and Larry McCarthy, the media producer of the infamous Willie Horton ad that helped elect George Bush Senior in 1988. However, with the Republican Party suddenly lined up behind Schwarzenegger, Issa's ambition was crushed. He found himself at a press conference, the victim of a vast Republican conspiracy, and he cried.
.....more...

Read the entire article-- it paints a good picture of just how the Repub Party works...