Joe Trippi has built an army. If Dean's not going to be the nominee, what is this army going to be used for?
There are still 5 days until the NH vote, but I'm proceeding on the assumption that Dean will not win or place a close 2nd. Disregard the following if he somehow manages to pull it out.
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So Dean pooches IA and NH. What then?
In the infamous Monday speech, Dean was talking about taking the fight to all 50 states. If his campaign has no chance to win, why contest California or Tennesee?
In '92, Joe Trippi ran Jerry Brown's insurgent campaign. The Brown campaign, much like the Dean campaign, was shaped as much by Trippi's obsessions as by the candidate.
The Brown campaign was a call to war against the Democratic Party, rather than against the Republican incumbent. After Clinton sealed the nomination, the Brown campaign continued, winning significant but clearly minority percentages in state after state. Brown focused his campaign on relentlessly attacking Clinton.
The result of this assault on the front-runner after he'd already clinched the nomination resulted in Clinton's national poll number sinking lower and lower that spring, until he was running third in the polls, behind both Bush and Perot. Happily a combination of the bad economy, Perot's flameout, and Clinton's own skill managed to turn things around. But if these planets had not aligned, it's very easy to imagine Brown's attacks costing the Democrats the election.
In accounts of the Brown campaign written afterwards, the voice always arguing for continuing the campaign and continuing the attacks belongs to Trippi.
This year, Trippi has a much more effective communication system (due to the net) than he did in '92, and much more money. What will he use these resources for once his candidate is no longer a viable competitor for the nomination?
If '92 is any guide, Democrats concerned with winning the election this fall should be worried.
