I remember Jerry Brown and his 1-800 number. They all made fun of him plugging it every time he appeared, until they saw him taking in a lot of money that way, and then they copied it. I assume that was Trippi populism. And I remember Hart. These campaigns had very promising moments, with very interesting unconventional progressives (i.e. with some traditionally non-liberal positions, like flat tax and national service), but they ultimately failed.
I'm wondering if Trippi may be a genius of sorts, a genuine great thinker when it comes to participatory democracy and populist fundraising, but not so great at the mechanics of the extended debate which is the campaign. Tying people together and making them a part of a movement is one thing, managing the rhetoric of the press and opponents is totally another. Most campaign managers are only good at the latter, the public perceptions game, if they are good at anything.
But I don't know. I don't know what decisions were Trippi's, which were not. I have not seen the Iowa ads, so I don't know how bad they were. So as usual I'll just ask you.
By the way, if you know where to find the Iowa ads on the net or elsewhere, I'd appreciate it because I'd like to see them.
Not to add bias to the poll, but I want to say I put some of these options up for completeness in case you think it... specifically, personally I think it would be terribly wrong to blame the supporters. E.g. let's say personal stories while canvassing went awry in some case and had the opposite effect desired... well, in my view, that's still very much the campaign's fault for not training them on message, or not putting the right people at the right tasks. I'm thinking that Trippi organized something that felt to Iowan's like a well-funded revolution was descending on them (flame if you must, but I'd rather you just correct me if (you think) I'v gotten the wrong impression), and again, this is something someone good at constructing a "movement" might not realize is a terrible rhetorical move in the context of a campaign.
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PS: total other subject; did you see the diary asking if Dean should bring up his position on guns? 41 votes, 100% yes. I found that quite remarkable and I think it's the only time I've seen 100% unanimous diary poll results. I happen to agree.