Joe Trippi "the man who re-invented campaigning"

Joe Trippi, senior advisor for the Edwards campaign, was born in California in 1956 and is a graduate of San Jose State University, where he was a member of the Sibma Nu Fraternity. His first major political campaign was in 1980, when he worked for Edward M. Kennedy’s bid for the presidency. Other presidential campaigns that he worked on include: Walter Mondale, Gary Hart, Richard Gephardt and Howard Dean.

As the National Campaign Manager for Howard Dean in 2004, Trippi pioneered the use of the internet for campaigns; using the internet to reach out to small donors in what would become the largest grass roots fund raising campaign in history, Tripi broke the all time record for Democratic fundraising. Because of Trippi’s internet fundraising activities, the Howard Dean for President Campaign raised “more money then any Democratic presidential campaign in history” (http://www.joetrippi.com/, 02/21/08). Changing the landscape of fundraising forever, Joe Trippi was able to reach this goal with donations that averaged only $100. A political magazine, The New Republic, featured his picture on the cover with the caption: "the man who re-invented campaigning".

Joe Trippi applied the same skills and know-how to the Edwards Campaign with mixed results. Through an internet Democratic fundraising company, ActBlue, Edwards received upwards of $921,000 in a ten day fundraising blitz during September (http://blog.wired.com/, 02/21/08). This was not enough to overcome a loss in Iowa, and Edwards was soon short on money.

In the past, Joe Trippi worked as a media consulting at a Democratic firm called Doak, Shrum and Associates. During his time there, he worked on the campaigns of Jerry Baililes for Governor of Virginia, and Bob Casey for Governor of Pennsylvania; both were successful. Trippi also worked on the re-election campaigns for U.S. Senator Alan Cranston of California and Mayor Tom Bradley of Los Angeles.

Jason Meyerson