Joe Trippi
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Joe Trippi is a long-time American Democratic campaign worker and consultant. A mainstay in presidential politics, Trippi has worked on the presidential campaigns of Edward Kennedy, Walter Mondale, Gary Hart, and Dick Gephardt. Most notably, he served as campaign manager for presidential candidate and former Vermont governor Howard Dean.
Trippi is an alumnus of San José State University and a brother of Sigma Nu.
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[edit] Career
After spending many years working for Democratic candidates, Trippi began serving as a corporate consultant in Silicon Valley during the 1990s. He remained involved in politics, eventually becoming the media consultant to Steve Soboroff's 2001 run for Mayor of Los Angeles, California before he joined the Dean campaign in February 2003.
Until spring of 2004, Trippi was a principal at the political consulting firm Trippi, McMahon & Squier, which produced advertisements for Dean's gubernatorial and presidential campaigns.
[edit] Dean campaign
The Dean campaign, and Trippi specifically, became widely acclaimed for the innovative use of the Internet, especially for fundraising. In particular, Trippi was largely responsible for the creation of an official campaign blog, and the use of Meetup and other social networking technologies to connect supporters. Both techniques are widely utilized today by other social and political campaigns.
Trippi was a key voice in the Dean campaign's decision to forgo the use of federal matching funds for the Democratic presidential nomination, a move intended to help escape the fundraising limits the matching funds brought. The decision prompted eventual nomination winner John Kerry to follow suit and allow his campaign to remain financially competitive with Bush in the months leading up to the convention.
Dean replaced Trippi as campaign manager on January 28, 2004 after consecutively losing the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary. Trippi subsequently signed on as a commentator for MSNBC; launched a new organization, Change for America; and started his own consultancy, Trippi & Associates.
[edit] Recent work
In 2005, Trippi was a consultant to Bob Hertzberg, who entered the Los Angeles mayoral race but did not advance past the primary election. In November 2006, Trippi became a media consultant to Philadelphia mayoral candidate Tom Knox.
Trippi has worked closely with Mike Ford, Paul Tully, and John Sasso over the years. He is the author of The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: Democracy, the Internet, and the Overthrow of Everything.
[edit] Published work
- The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: Democracy, the Internet, and the Overthrow of Everything (2004) (ISBN 0-06-076155-5)
[edit] Quotes
"There is only one tool, one platform, one medium that allows the American people to take their government back, and that's the Internet."
"Politics is a strangely addictive game."
"You gotta believe."
