Joe Trippi: The man who reinvented campaigning

Very interesting article in The New Republic (subscription required):

"Everyone tells their own version of how Walter Mondale won the straw poll at Iowa's Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner in 1983, but they all go something like this: In early October, a young Mondale aide named Joe Trippi shows up in Des Moines to check on Mondale's Iowa field operation. What he finds there horrifies him. Somehow the Iowa team has allowed the rival campaign of California Senator Alan Cranston to nearly corner the market on tickets to the JJ dinner, an annual affair designed to raise money for the Iowa state Democratic Party. This is, to colossally understate things, a problem. The dinner's traditional straw poll is an important barometer of public opinion in the state that hosts the nation's first caucuses. Mondale is a former vice president from neighboring Minnesota. Not only is he expected to win the straw poll; he is expected to win big. But the way you win is by packing the convention hall full of your own supporters. And the way you do that is by selling them tickets or buying tickets for them.

"Trippi is nearly hysterical when he calls Campaign Manager Bob Beckel and Deputy Manager Mike Ford in Washington. "He speaks so fast, it was hard to keep up," Beckel recalls. "I said, 'Joe, What's the bottom line? What do you need?' He said, 'I just need permission to do whatever I need to do.' ... I just said OK." But there isn't a lot Trippi can do. He can try to get the Iowa Democratic Party to sell him more tickets. But there's no way they're going to sell him $275,000 worth, which is what Trippi estimates Cranston has bought. And, even if they would, there's no way he can afford to drop that kind of cash on an off-year event. When it comes down to it, Trippi is going to have to get his hands on tickets that have already been sold. Cranston tickets. Lots of them. And yet, once he accepts that proposition, the solution is almost elegant in its simplicity: What's to stop him from just marching right up to Cranston's people and asking for them?"

http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20031117&s=scheiber111703

Well, at least Mondale didn't embrace the confederate flag... Oh, wait, that's why Mondale lost, right?

but very long. I printed it out and read it offline, I think it was about 15 pages. Great insights on Trippi, some background I didn't know, from when he was out of politics.

Very interesting analysis about how the Dean campaign has revolutionized campaigning by getting the voters to come to them.

... I hope he steals Joe Trippi and lets him do everything.

Hell, I wish he could steal Trippi NOW...

But if Clark wins the nom, by all means, get him on board!

I'm voting green

I think the stuff in Koisvo (sp) was the sadest time of the Clinton days. Since Clark was at the steering wheel I can't vote for him.

Dean's baggage. With Dean, most Democrats won't vote.

What kind of "Democrats" are we talking about?

will refuse to vote for Dean. If he gets the nomination, I'll write in "Al Gore" I've voted Democrat in every election since I turned 19 and there is no way I'm voting for a Republican who will raise middle class taxes and convict innocent blacks. I'll write in the name of a Democrat first. I've spoken to a great many activist Democrats and most of those I've spoken to have told me they couldn't vote for Dean in the general election either. None of the Democratic activists are being polled. The pollsters usually go for the conservatives. Arianna Huffington sited a study showing that 65% of Americans hang up on pollsters. The pollsters get all their information from the 35% with nothing better to do.

Good thing you are in the minority.

As far as I can tell that's your goal.

the pollsters scientific sample is less accurate than your sample of "a great many activist Democrats"? LOL.

to do (35%) give them the time of day. People with nothing better to do are probably not a good indicator of what the voters will do. If you want a source, Arianna Huffington was quoting them Tuesday night when she discussed this. Contact her.

.

not the solution. Just another "politics as usual" mercenary who whores himself out to the campaign with the most cash.

I went to college with these types, and they're the main reason why I didn't go into professional politics with my PoliSci degree.

These were the same types who either got marketing degrees and joined corporate America, or got PoliSci (or Communications) degrees and joined Corporate Politics. All they're worried about is image and getting some cushy administration job after their man wins the election.

What is truly amazing is that Trippi was able to transform a hawkish Rockefeller Republican into the "no more politics as usual" savior of the Democratic Party. Just like Karl Rove was able to transform a bumbling cokeheaded deserter into "presidential" material. The parallels are unsettling, to say the least.

I dont think that Trippi can out-Rove Karl Rove though. He doesn't have the whole of the U.S Government at his disposal. After the nomination, the press will turn on Dean. They are pushing him because they know that they can knock him down. I think our party may be in for a nasty fall. Hopefully, someone more reputable wins the nomination.

of how ugly it's going to get if Dean wins the nom. I don't think DU will be a very nice place to be. Just a guess. :)

Since your are a PoliSci person as I am, then you should be able to pull back and look at the situation objectively. Trippi has revolutionized how campaigns are run. It isn't just about the message, it is also about the tools and ways of putting a campaign together from grassroots to the candidate and how they all relate. You may not like the results, the message the campaign is sending, but you have to appreciate the methodology.

Take this methodology and and give it to a candidate who has a message you like. Edwards should be contacting Trippi in 12 years.

Grassroots campaigns have been around for AGES. The Repubs used the same methods in the late '70s/early '80s to organize the religious conservatives and get them out to the polls. How do you think the "Reagan Revolution" happened? That's hardly "revolutionary" in any respect.

The only "revolutionary" thing Trippi has done is to disguise your typical top-down campaign and status-quo candidate in the language and lingo of the "grassroots" and "populism". He's just another political operative who knows how to "position" his candidate so that he appeals to those who "want change".

Face it: Trippi saw an opportunity and turned another Clintonesque corporate-friendly moderate into The People's Champion.

In fact, I'd argue Trippi borrowed more from the religious conservative playbook than he did from the Wellstone playbook. If anything, the "grassroots" of the Dean campaign is run from the top down. Marching orders are dispatched from Trippi and given to the masses below. Of course, it's all put in the "trappings" of grassroots campaigning so it doesn't "look" like the others.

Trippi, like most other ops, is more politics as usual. And all the baggage that goes with it.

You want the Dean campaign to be a negative so you see it as one. I want it to be positive so I see it as positive.

It talks about how Trippi and the Dean campaign figured out how to get the voters to come to them in droves by using the Internet, especially the Blog, to connect people. Thus drastically reducing the cost of reaching the solid voters. This is revolutionary, whether you admit it or not.

Of course the campaign is primarily run from the top down; it wouldn't work otherwise. But I've also seen ideas from the Blog put in use by the campaign -- there is an incredible amount of give-and-take between the Bloggers and the campaign HQ.

Or maybe Joe is just making it all up. :eyes:

and teach people about American politics, i'd have to say that the sour grapes variable is high significant!

First, your premise that Trippi joined a campaign for money shows how uniformed you are about the process...Dean had about 100,000 in the bank when Trippi joined and wasn't even on the radar in the primary...

Second, you suffer from the same falacie that all Dean supporters are zombies, drink koolaid, etc. If that makes you feel better, fine, but it doesnt make it reality...at all....

Perhaps you should take sime time and inform yourself better, maybe go to a Dean MeetUp and actually see and hear who these supporters are before you go making such silly statements....

And to not think that what Trippi has done to politics isn't revolutionary, than why is everyone beating themselves silly trying to duplicate (and failing miserably) the actions coming out of the Dean campaign...

Put down your Kucinich colored glasses for half a minute and try to be objective about what is really going on...

went to a MeetUp, was NOT convinced. Some yuppie "speaker" addressed everybody and then told them to write letters. NO participation from the attendees, other than writing letters they were TOLD to write.

The DK MeetUps, OTOH, are bottom-up. People get together, brainstorm, ask questions, come up with new ideas for campaigning, make connections, tell three friends, and bring them next time. They also start showing up for the weekly campaign meetings where EVERYBODY participates and helps to get things done. I have YET to see the equivalent from the Dean camp, other than the frequent fundraising emails.

Trippi and his ilk are the main reason why I did not go into "professional" politics after getting my B.A. I was sick of the sycophantic ass-kissers and ideological hypocrites who were in it for the power and not for the chance to make our nation better. They more than outnumbered the truly concerned folk, and would have been just as comfortable as a middle-manager at a multinational corporation.

Real change always comes from the bottom up. You as a PoliSci PhD. should know this. The only thing "bottom-up" in Dean's campaign is the fundraising. The rest is business as usual-- just like the candidate.

sounds just like the DK one you attended. It just depends on the host. That's what happens when the campaign isn't in charge of each little thing...the power is in the people's hands, and unfortunately not every person is an effective meetup host. The meetup host in my town (one out of the two) is awesome!

Good luck at your DK meetups!

Our meetups (now in more than one place because of size) have discussion and questions before the scheduled activity. People think up projects like work at food pantries and passing out literature at author events, and then go make them happen, without help from the central campaign.
There is truly a lot going on at the local level.

The tone of the Meetup has a lot to do with the local people who are in charge.

We would never "tell people what to do."

but he is willing to take unconventional risks and plays alot of it by ear. The champion of the underdog.

Plays a great conference championship but fails when it's time for the most important event, the Superbowl.

it is the combination of Trippi and Dean that works so well.

Trippi is the navigator and Dean is willing to forge a new path. What they lack in sophistication they make up for in enthusiasm and effort.