Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Battle of the sound bites

The Dallas Morning News is wondering aloud on their front page why we haven't heard more from the two camps in the Trinity River toll road vote. Jeff Siegel posts at Back Talk that it's a different kind of campaign and that maybe the political consultants don't quite know what to do with it, much less what they are going to say. The anti-toll road group probably doesn't have the cash to launch an all-out media assault, at least not this early.

Here is the message we have from each side so far. From this morning's story, here's Angela Hunt, city council person and community organizer extraordinaire (future mayor?): "Do you want a high-speed toll road in what's supposed to be Dallas' signature park?" That's pretty much all you have to say. It is a very simple message.

The pro-toll road group does not have a simple message. They can't seem to boil it down. They say they need to educate voters and that it's much more complicated. All the pieces have to fit together. Blah blah blah. Meanwhile, according to Jim Schutze, they don't even know how they're going to flood-protect the road or how much that will cost.

Oh, and Mr. Schutze is going to be profiled by D magazine and the DMN as part of the "2-pronged strategy" to get the voters to want a road in their park. Good luck guys.

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