When Republican pollster Frank Luntz came to Albuquerque four years ago, he was smug and snarky cuss. That was when the local NAIOP affiliate brought the GOP’s most notorious message manipulator (Contract for America, Clear Skies Initiative, Death Tax) to teach local sprawl developers how to re-spin and recast their image. “Never, ever refer to yourselves as ‘developers’,” he told them. It didn’t poll so well, he explained. Use the term “designers” and “creators” instead, he said.
Well, it’s 2009 and Luntz is stunned by the massive shift in public opinion regarding taxes and spending on infrastructure. Continue reading