The Pollster Who Lives Like The President

GOP influencer Frank Luntz turned his Brentwood home into a shrine to presidential patriotism (complete with a replica of Monica Lewinsky’s blue dress) as he finishes his sanctuary from the ‘tempest of chaos and hell’ that is this year’s election: ‘I want Lincoln–Douglas, and instead I am getting Beavis and Butt-head’

- Peter Kiefer 

When Frank Luntz’s mother, Phyllys, died two years ago, he decided to honor her in a unique way: He would build an exact replica of the Oval Office inside his Brentwood compound. “She always wanted me to be the first Jewish president,” says the prominent (and sometimes controversial) Republican pollster, seated under the gaze of a portrait of America’s first gentile president, George Washington.

A year and a half later, arguably the most famous focus grouper in America would hold his first formal meeting in his own Oval Office. His guest? Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. “That is why I built it,” says Luntz, 54. “What gives me joy in life is having great conversations.”

The completion of the Oval Office, which adjoins a replica of the Lincoln Bedroom, is the crowning achievement in a seven-year, multimillion dollar renovation — overseen by Kris Sellman-Johnson of N.S. Johnson Co. — to turn Luntz’s 14,000-square-foot California ranch home into a showcase for one of the most impressive collections of American arcana in Los Angeles — and likely anywhere. Luntz, who is single, splits his time among New York, Washington, D.C., Las Vegas and L.A. (his company, Luntz Global, has about 30 staffers spread across those cities as well as Chicago and St. Louis); he spends only 55 nights a year at his six bedroom, 13-bath Brentwood spread, but he considers it his sanctuary from an election that has pitched him into what he calls an abyss of despair — despite the boost the race has provided to his popularity in a city soaked with stars eager to appear informed.