by Vox Populi, Thu Apr 19, 2007 at 11:32:57 AM EDT
Joe Trippi, Howard Dean's original campaign manager, has signed on with the Edwards campaign.
This is a very significant development. It shows the Edwards campaign is dedicated to the Netroots, and is focused on running a truly transformational campaign.
Please stop by the blog and welcome Joe to the campaign. He is a valued asset.
Tags: Election 2008, Joe Trippi, John Edwards (all tags)
hopefully he can bring some of the magic that Dean had in the early days.
It's pretty clear is doing a lot to reach out to the netroots and build the Democratic brand.
This is the guy who blew through all that netroots money, and who basically checked out the last couple of weeks before Iowa/NH? The same one who had a documentary crew following him around when he should have been focused on the Iowa caucuses and the NH primary? I'm sorry, I don't think this is good news AT ALL. He is just another Washington insider consultant, who created a campaign that was a mile wide, but when the chips were down, it proved to be an inch deep, and broke (please excuse the mixed metaphors).
He's not going to be in charge of the campaign, he's going to be an advisor. I think he will focus on outreach and big ideas rather than day-to-day ops.
was a big idea guy but no so much a nuts and bolts guy.
the nuts and bolts seem to be going more or less well with a few glitches in the Edwards campaign.
the fundraising and outreach are what needs work. for this Trippi seems more than a good choice.
Sorry guys, but nascardem is right on this one. As an Obama supporter, I'm rejoicing that my guy didn't screw up and hire this SOB. I'm only disappointed that Edwards, who is a good progressve too, got saddled with him instead of Hillary.
Trippi was primarily responsible for the single biggest failure of Dean's campaign: media messaging and the framing of Howard Dean, the man. Trippi didn't make Dean oppose the war, didn't make him support gay rights, or any of the other things that acutally lit the Dean rocket. He did manage to waste tens of millions of dollars (taking a big chunk for himself and his firm), and didn't even slow down the 'crazy liberal' image of Dean that the media built up.
Edwards was doing a fine job of courting the netroots already - he didn't need to invest in a 'big name' like Trippi. I hope for his sake that Trippi's major contribution was just announcing that he's behind Edwards.
but John Edwards - he is not using the conventional handler methology. He is doing it his way, and Elizabeth is a valuble advisor.
Trippi may be joining, but he, by far is not running it. There is a big difference in being in charge and just tweaking projects.
SO no matter what kind of bad news you may want to make this, Trippi has insite and knowledge and it can be used correctly, and that is what John Edwards will do.
i agree completely
i thought trippi's behavior during the last month or so he worked for dean was disgraceful...
edwards should have stayed clear of this guy..
I wonder if a Democracy for American endorsement will be forthcoming. Trippi was here on MYDD a few months back talking how he though that Edwards was the candidate most likely to be transformational at that time. Guess he still thinks that's true.
I'd bet every amount of money I have DFA will endorse Obama, Edwards or Richardson... Since they are the only ones who have actually taken the time to respond to the DFA candidate questions... I refuse to support anyone who won't answer the questions. (Gore and Clark are exempt as they were never sent the questions as they had not announced)
I don't think Trippi brings DFA along -- he has never been involved in DFA. He is one of the best at what he does. I respect Trippi.
Trippi didn't do much with Democracy for America. As I recall, he tried founding his own group, Change for America, instead. You can see how well that group's doing here: http://www.changeforamerica.com/
how democratic consultants were paid based on advertising expense compared to GOP consultants that are not
Joe Trippi has said that he did not take any advertising commissions for the Dean campaign. I do not have a reference to document that but I believe it to be true.
It was his old firm still run by his partner that he funneled the money to. A clear conflict of interest.
That's pretty funny, if you are an Obama supporter saying that-- given CM Plouffe's arrangement with media guy Axelrod.
No, what he said was that he didn't take any salary. His point was that since his firm was already doing the Dean media before he became campaign manager, he made no additional money from running the campaign.
I have no brief for (or against) the guy; I just can't stand all the self-important bs that gets thrown down so often around here.
Congrats to the Edwards campaign. This is quite a good coup for them and Trippi will be able to help their campaign immediately.
People on this blog and others have continually made a point of criticizing cookie cutter campaign tactics and advertising. Trippi has a reputation as one of the more creative consultants.
Edwards campaign so far, has not been a cookie cutter operation. (For example, no polling in Q1). So adding Trippi makes sense.
As long is he is providing the Edwards campaign with creative ideas, I don't see how that can be bad. It's up to Edwards and David Bonior to take the good ideas, and ignore the bad ideas.
I read about this. And even though I feel suspicion about Edwards, I am happy he has Trippi. Trippi seems like a genuine good guy.
I'm Signing On
By Joe Trippi, April 19th, 2007I really thought that the 2004 Presidential campaign would be the last I would be involved in. I have always wanted to make a difference, but for me I thought those days were over.
A few weeks ago, John and Elizabeth Edwards made their decision to continue, not just John Edwards' campaign for President, but their work together to make a difference for their country.
I like and respect Elizabeth Edwards, but last I checked she is not running for President. The inclusion of her name wherever and whenever possible is beginning to appear a little unseemly.
1. Elizabeth Edwards is heavily involved in the campaign operations and ideas and
2.. it is well know she screens campaign hires at the higher levels before they come aboard.
http://www.msmagazine.com/spring2004/edw ards.asp
The primary in Oklahoma was a perfect example. John Edwards did far better there than expected, something noted on CNN by Democratic operative Paul Begala. The 11th-hour endorsement by Oklahoma University football coach Barry Switzer was considered key to Edwards'showing.Begala called the seeking of the endorsement the work of a "brilliant political strategist." What genius came up with such an idea? Begala asked. Elizabeth Edwards was the answer.
oh god we are using paul begala
that guy is a total has been..
stop quoting him as if he knows what he is talking about cause he ain't got a clue
My only worry for her is that she ends up becoming Hillary Clinton if Edwards wins the whole thing. Think about how derided HRC was in the first few years... it really wasn't until his re-election and after she started to be liked. Now times have changed and at that time you never had a first lady who publically pushed herself in the governance of the country.. such that she came off as a co-president rather than the first lady. So maybe the public's view is different, or maybe HRC brought some of it on herself... she wasn't the most likable of people in 1992. Elizabeth is a lot more likable. If He did win, I don't want to her become derided the way HRC was.
That article is just plain wrong. Barry Switzer wasn't the coach of Oklahoma in 2003-2004. Bob Stoops was ( and still is). Either the author is on crack or Begala was. Barry Switzer hasn't coached Oklahoma since 1988.
So who actually endorsed Edwards... you's think they'd get the facts of the article right...
Sorry, not to take anything away from the sentiment... shit liek that just annoys me with the media. Its a simple thing to get right... its either former Oklahoma Coach Switzer or Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops.
Barry Switzer is a legend in Oklahoma, so it's perfectly acceptable to call him OU football coach Barry Switzer. And yes, he endorsed Edwards and recorded a robocall for him.
Boomer Sooner!!
crowd
With the additiom of Trippi I am convinced that Edwards is running this time by being Edwards and not so packaged as Shrum as a consultant would put together
no . he's running as dean!
this clinches it..
too bad he is NOT howard dean.
Trippi outranks Shrum?
And, actually, Edwards used Jim Andrews in 2004 for this role. Andrews is the one who developed the "Two Americas" theme--not particularly Shrummy.
Trippi must have really missed working with field director Daren Berringer!
Joe Trippi did a great job with idea's for Dean. But as a day to day campaign manager he blew.
Hopefully he can help the Edwards campaign get a bit more transparent but I don't think he's going to suddenly make Edwards the Howard Dean of 2008. I I think for Edwards fans that's good. Because Howard Dean lost.
DFA wont endorse anyone any more then MoveOn did in 2004.
I think this is a huge coup for the Edwards campaign. This will give him the spark he needs. He is a big idea guy and I'm guessing that is how the Edwards campaign will use him. Now it is gonna get really interesting.
How was he not already treating the Netroots as important? Have we already forgotten Amanda Marcotte? Hasn't his Netroots cred been well-enough established by now?
Frankly, I'm not impressed by Trippi, and the more of his work I see the less impressed I am. During the early days of Dean I thought he must be an understated genius, but that faded after Iowa and the Jimmy Carter fiasco, and the last two races I saw of his were less than impressive.
Frankly, I think Edwards would be better off bringing Jim Andrews back.
This is not so surprising given the fundraising data from Barack Obama's camp. (Lots of small donors who didn't give much individually who can then be pumped for cash later.)
Credit Edwards (and Edwards) for realizing quickly how this campaign is going to go. You have Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. Then you will have one day in wwhich the rest of America might nominate a winner.
Fact is, Edwards did well in Iowa last time, is doing well in Nevada and South Carolina. Trippi's job isn't to raise money, it's to figure out how to solve the campaign calendar. Retail politics is popular in Iowa and New Hampshire and therefore done quite extensively. But in Nevada particularly there is probably a conventional wisdom that the majority of campaigning should be done by TV. Trippi needs to figure out a way to energize the netroots so that Nevada is the linchpin of his strategy.
If Edwards wins both Iowa and Nevada....the only person who can beat him is Clinton with an awesome performance in New Hampshire. Otherwise, Edwards is the nominee, as crazy as it sounds.
This is good news. Joe was always great as an ideas man - in an advisory capacity he can be free to go for the concepts and the ideas and not get bogged down with the implementation issues.
Ultimately though the Dean campaign looks positively anachronistic now in retrospect, with its old echo-chamber-esque MT-driven blog, orange hats and meetups.
I hope that Trippi is going to be less focused on "blogs" and more on leveraging the online netroots into the real meatspace, because that's the single greatest Achilles heel we have. That doesnt mean orange hats, it means house parties and cookie bakes and tree plantings and habitat for humanity teams and sponsoring high school sports clubs. Dont create artificial events - leverage the ones that already exist in every community in every small town across America. And insert themselves into them.
And the technology angle should also be focused on innovation, not regurgitation of the same old blog/meetup model. I'd have Edwards establish a presence on every new platform. I'd create a Joost channel, I'd hire coders to develop plugins for Wordpress and AJAX code utilities, I'd create a wiki dedicated to catalouging Republican excess. I'd sink some of that campaign money, in other words, into new progressive net infrastructure, create blue seed.
And then there is policy. Sure the easy ones are net neutrality and repeal the DCMA, but what about open spectrum auction? Broadband WiFi as a pubic utility? Laptops for every elementary school student? universal pre-k? federal tax amnesty (capped) for teachers? Patent law reform? All these things are a common thread of empowering the next generation by giving them the best tools. teachers, and resources they can possibly have - so that they innovate our future.
Theres going to be a LOT of money sloshing through the system in this campaign season ahead. If Trippi can siphon off even a small fraction that would otherwise be wasted on traditional media, and invest it in the future, it will do more for transformational change than anything else.
Edwards, if he is serious about running an ideas and transformative campaign, needs to expect everyone on his team to push thta vision and ethos forward. Trippi is capable of a lot more thanthe average dude in this regard; so expectations for him are higher. If Trippi doesn't make serious waves I will be disappointed, in him but also in Edwards for not pushing hard enough.
A good leader pushes his people to excel beyond their capabilities. With trippi, that is prettyfreakin' far. It's not supposed to be easy. Its supposed to be hard. The hard is what makes it great.
I doubt they are actually using him to advise on anything important.
To me the point is like with hiring the bloggers only Trippi poses less risks.
As someone who worked on the Dean campaign I see this hiring as a mixed bag. I think having the name Trippi attached to Edwards campaign should earn some good will with Deaniacs and the netroots in general. That being said, I hope they have clearly laid out what his role in the campaign will be and how much strategy he will be involved in.
If anybody has Trippi's number, it is the Deaniacs and the netroots. Why would we possibly be impressed or influenced by the guy who screwed over Dean? We know where Trippi burried the bodies.
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