GOP messaging guru Frank Luntz will dine with Dems
The architect behind the GOP’s Contract with America will join House Democrats for dinner when lawmakers return from Thanksgiving break, as the House minority looks to overhaul its messaging strategy.
California Rep. Xavier Becerra, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, invited noted Republican strategist Frank Luntz as the featured guest at the members-only dinner Monday.
Luntz is famous for pushing the GOP to adopt the terms “death tax” and “climate change,” along with helping message Newt Gingrich’s 1990s-era Contract with America that helped usher in a Republican majority in the House.
Democrats have been overhauling their messaging strategy since losses in the 2014 elections left them deep in the minority. New York Rep. Steve Israel, former head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, has been leading a task force aimed at fixing how the party talks to voters.
Earlier this year, Israel put out a draft plan that urged Democrats to ditch their complex, details-based messages and instead talk like their GOP counterparts.
“Luntz, once described as ‘The Nostradamus of pollsters’ has conducted over 2,000 surveys, focus groups, ad tests and dial sessions for Fortune 100 companies and media outlets like The Wall Street Journal, PBS and NBC, and is the pioneer of the Instant Response focus group technique,” a media advisory on the dinner stated.
Reps. Ted Deutch of Florida and Peter Welch of Vermont are co-hosting the dinner with Becerra.