By the time I posted this comment to answer Markos about his inquiry about what sealed Dean's fate I realized it had become a post. So, I'm going to post it.
Dear Markos,
He's probably a pal of yours since you were on the inside of the Dean campaign as a consultant but Paul Maslin (Dean Pollster) had a great article that you should get even though I'm sure you must have read it already from the ATLANTIC. He cuts to it though leaves much unsaid since feelings were still pretty hot when the article came out I suppose.
I hope to hear a little more in your book about how the apple rotted from the inside out while the people who were doing the work on the outside were screaming about problems that were apparent months before Iowa.
In Vermont, it became obvious that part of what was happening (as Dean became such a huge national figure so quickly) was that people who were in charge of certain responsibilities were suddenly in way over their head and started circling the wagons to veil their limitations instead of doing the right thing and demanding an assessment of the situation before it was too late. General Dean should have demanded that meeting unless it is true that he wasn't getting the information he needed from some of his key handlers. There needed to be some kind of pow wow to mend whatever irritation was growing between the Vermont players and the Trippi players. I'll let you explain the unspoken about how the people's money was being used for those pathetic ads. Instead of going out and getting more experienced talent besides the affable Steve McMahon, we had nice people, but ineffective people in their ability to defend Dean under attack on national television time and time again.
What began to eminate from Burlington was sad because the true grassroots nature of the campaign was being corrupted by the growing temptation to imagine the fruits of becoming a "Washington Insider." Instead of grasping onto the energy that was building in the netroots and the people on the street who were offering ideas and help, the "status" was forming of who was "in" and who was "out." And that included the handling of the national media apparently because the candidate was taking some knocks for good reason even though the things he was saying were true. You can't turn on the press as a people's candidate.
One of my regular correspondents for the thegrassrootsmovie.com was Sam Hemingway, a columnist for The Burlington Free Press. He once told me on camera at the DNC in Boston that he thought it ironic that leading up to Iowa the halls of the Burlington campaign office was a place you could roam free. As the koolaide got tastier somebody found money to implement a new security system to keep the perceived threats out. Sam said something could have happened but the moral of his story is symbolic of the "outsiders" tacking "inside" at the expense of losing that loving grassroots feeling for the others.
In Iowa, Tom Oliphant of the Boston Globe and the News Hour pointed out the nice new secret service earphone look many of Dean's handlers were suddenly sporting. He laughed that to get inside you have to become an insider and that wasn't going to happen with only Al Gore and Tom Harkin endorsements. It needed to happen with a united team on the "inside" of the Dean campaign in Burlington to respond effectively to the fires that were being lit from everywhere. Dean should have taken one weekend off to assess the situation, get his energy back, and talk with somebody like Roy Neel before all the inside bickering split the team.
IMHO, most of the other stuff would have been addressed if the experience on the inside of the Dean campaign would have yielded to the need for a united team that communicated on the level you have to if you want to win a nomination. "The people" I talked to across the country who were pouring their hearts and treasure out because they really felt like their voices counted for once deserved that at the very least.
Yea, vision's always perfect in hindsight but I hope your book reveals a little more so we can move on together again and learn from past mistakes.
Feel free to check out some of my footage for more opinions of the matter at my site. I'd love to get you in the movie too. Let me know if an interview is possible.