My friend Dave pointed me to the Frontline interview with Frank Lutz to find out how he uses persuasion to sell both products and politicians. A fascinating interview that discusses the architecting of the Republican strategy for persuading Americans. This excerpt cuts to the heart of this strategy that uses language to persuade:

What matters most in politics is personality. It's not issues; it's not image. ... My job as a pollster is to understand what really matters. Those levers of importance -- sometimes they're called levers; sometimes they're called triggers. What causes people to buy a product? What causes someone to pull a lever and get them to vote? I need to know the specifics of that. And in politics, more often than not, it's about the personality and the character of the individual rather than where they stand, and that's exactly the opposite of what your viewers will think.

There's a very scary and depressing message here. Americans vote by emotion. Facts and the intelligence of the candidate don't appear to matter by and large to the majority of people. Their gut feeling matters. And this is why someone like Lutz is so effective at selling politicians. He can study the language these politicians use and help them be selective about chosing words to appeal to people's emotions. If you're looking for an interesting anecdote that seems to support this idea, check out Ira Glass' Swing Set show on "This American Life" where a Republican talks about why he will vote for Bush because he thinks he has integrity even though he dislikes Bush's policies.

There's a lesson here for Dems. Bill Clinton was a great communicator and you got the sense that he was passionate and had stood behind his convictions. But the biggest selling point is his charisma. It came naturally to him. We didn't have that with Kerry. Republicans scored big when they began using Lutz. He's absolutely right that Democrats have become angry and that's working against them. Take Michael Moore and Howard Dean for instance. You get the sense that they're just brimming with anger. The delivery is angry. There's no getting around it and when it comes to persuading the unconverted, it works against them. Some people think we'll need a more conservative, Southern candidate in 2008. It can't be distilled to those factors. If you believe Lutz, you need to have someone with personality who can communicate. Plus there's just that X factor that people like Clinton and Reagan seemed to have.

Politics as usual. What does any of this have to do with the issues? Nothing. In America, we're all just consumers in the eyes of politicians. And sadly, that's what works to win presidencies.