An evening with Joe Trippi of the Dean campaign...

[Petrodollar Warfare]

...In case anyone is interested...

Yesterday I went to an "ice cream" house party for the Dean campaign. The keynote speaker was Joe Trippi, Dean's national campaign mgr.

First, a few notes about the location. I didn't realize it until I arrived, but this event was actually at Joe Trippi's own ranch house on the eastern shore of MD. His property included a nicely restored yet appropriately rustic ranch house, a couple of barns (one under construction), some nice looking brown horses grazing in the corral, and even a bright red tractor in a field behind the house. When Joe Trippi gave his speech - he simply stood on top of a stump in the back yard and spoke to the 75-80 people that had gathered around him for the event. The guests ranged from high school students to senior citizens, but mostly middle-aged folks, plus a few dogs running around that added to the ambiance. Anyhow, I found this "political" event refreshingly bucolic and quite picturesque.

Well, I and 2 others were able to speak 1:1 with Joe for atleast 30-40 minutes later in the evening. Below are some recollection that I learned during our conversation:

In Jan 2003 there were 7 people in the Dean campaign, and Dean had a total of $157,000 in the bank for the campaign. The first nationwide Meetups in Jan totaled 432 people. Seven months later, Dean outraised all of the other candidates in the 2nd quarterm has almost 400,000 people signed-up or active in the campaign, and has become the Democratic front runner, despite resistance from the "DLC" crowd. Joe said that Dean and him still can't believe all that has transpired this year. I think they (and the Democratic "establishment") are still in a state of shock...

He indidicated that Dean really wanted to simply beat the drums re healthcare reform in 2003, etc and did not really expect to have a shot at the Dem nomination. Their goal is to have 900,000 people volunteering/active in the campaign by Dec 03. By comparison, the previous largest "grass roots" organization belonged to John McCain, who had 40,000 volunteers *after* he beat Bush in New Hampshire.

I did ask him about Wesley Clark as a potential VP pick. He said he has been getting that question at every campiagn stop lately, but it's too early to focus on that. He did state however that Dean and Wesley talk about foreign policy and related issues on a regular basis. The consensus seemed to be Clark would be the ideal VP pick, but no one could really state that publically at the moment...and I suspect every Dem candidate is doing the same thing re Clark...

It was agreed that Rove's political strategy in 2004 will be 1) "War on Terror" 2) National Security" and 3) more "War on terror." In Joe's words, "Fear, fear and more fear." Sadly, we have come a long long ways since FDR's "we have nothing to fear but fear itself"...

Joe agrees that the civil union issue will be the primary ammo used against Dean, but the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights suggest that all citizens should be afforded the same rights in the US. We all agreed the Patriot Act was a threat to our democracy and civil liberties, etc. However, there was not much Bush/Cheney bashing at all (more Al From/DLC bashing in fact).

The focus was on Dean and the need for him to have a strong 3rd quarter fundraising campaign. They believe if Dean can come in 1st place in the fundraising race for the 3rd Qtr - by a sufficient margin - then the 3rd tier and ossibly some 2nd teir candidates will drop out, with Dean will emerging the *real* frontrunner heading into the primaries. He said mich of the bigger money ($2000 check writers) are still on the sidelines, but will commit after the 3rd Qtr fundraising if one candidate is well ahead of the group.

His biggest concern seemed to be Kerry's money situtation. Regardless, Joe was rightly pround of the grass roots phenomenon, and the "empowerment" that Dean seems to stir in the jaded masses. Lots of previously apolitical folks are getting involved, which is a good thing. Joe apparantly reads Dean's blog site late at night, and personally responds to questions posed by the Internet crowd.

lastly, Joe mentioned that if their campaign can raise $9 or $10 million this quarter, and reach 900,000 volunteers by Dec 03', this will revolutionize political campaigning in the U.S. If I think of other interesting things I will add them later, but overall, it was an interesting evening well spent...

(Wow, I just checked my email, & here are some pics from yesterday...these folks certainly are Internet savvy...)

http://blog.deanforamerica.com/archives/001118.html#more

http://blog.deanforamerica.com/archives/001121.html#more

(Just contrast these pictures with what a Bush event would look like - $1000 per plate, black tie, in a fancy hotel, corporate execs like Ken Lay, lots of body guards, fundamentalists, and plenty of Ann Coulter style "liberal bashing" and some silly 'tough guy' talk from simpleton Bush about "terror"...)

[sfecap]

1. Gov. Dean and Gen. Clark talk on a regular basis?

...that ought to crank the speculation up a couple of notches. :-)

That for the great recap!!

[Petrodollar Warfare]

2. Actually, I suspect all of the Dem candidates are talking to Clark...

...and I didn't mean to infer this was an exclusive relationship. I get the impression that all of the candidates are talking to Clark about foreign policy, etc, but they are all waiting to see what he does. I just hope Dean wins the nomination and quickly picks Clark as his VP - atleast that would seem ideal from my perspective.

[sfecap]

3. I'm going to see Dean on the 3rd...

I'll ask him. :-)

[wryter2000]

4. Thanks for the report

Verrrrrry interesting. It's good to hear that Dean is consulting with Gen. Clark. He's going to need good military/foreign policy advice.