I kinda thought Joe Trippi was the man...

[Wetzelbill]

guess not.

[displacedtexan]

1. Joe Trippi really was the man.

This guy did an amazing job of getting the word out to the nation about his candidate. Even * is touting 'meet ups' on his freepin' website now.

As I understand the situation (with a bit of insider info): after Trippi made Dean a recognizable name, and the $ started rolling in, the grassroots workers-- many of whom quit their jobs to work full time for the campaign-- expected to be 'taken on' (campaignspeak for becoming paid staffers). When they weren't taken on, there were seriously hurt feelings and threats to pull support.

That's the extent of my personal knowledge of what was going on last fall, and I don't know if that rift had anything to do with Dean's unexpected losses in Iowa and NH, but it couldn't have helped.