Turning Point
After nearly everyone had written him off, John Kerry turned a limping campaign into a force that couldn't be beat. Here's How
All presidential campaigns have disagreements, power struggles, and conflicts. John Kerry, after all, fired his campaign manager in November, which led to the resignation of his spokesman and deputy finance director. But the conflicts in the Dean campaign were worse than normal. Trippi's friend and mentor, Ford, was brought into the campaign to try to establish some order. "Headquarters was dysfunctional," Ford said. "It was a very difficult atmosphere to work in. Joe and Howard didn't talk, which was part of the dysfunction."
Because Trippi's firm, Trippi, McMahon & Squier, had worked for Dean for years in his gubernatorial campaigns, and because Trippi ended up with the campaign manager's job, many assumed he and Dean were close or had some kind of personal relationship. They were not and did not. It was Trippi's partner, Steve McMahon, who had the personal relationship with Dean, and it was McMahon who urged Dean to hire Trippi. Trippi's reputation as a difficult person had preceded him--he admits he often does not work well with others--but besides being an expert on Iowa, he was skilled in the mysteries of the Internet and believed passionately in Dean's message of empowerment. Dean knew Iowa was going to be critical, and Trippi's experience there went a long way in getting him hired as campaign manager. So naturally, when Trippi came back from Iowa with dire mutterings on how "soft" things seemed there, others in the campaign suggested he go back out there and solve the problem. Trippi refused.
McMahon, as a friend and partner to Trippi, begged him to reconsider. He knew Trippi well, and he knew Trippi's insecurities. Trippi was afraid that if he left Burlington, there would be a coup and he would be replaced as campaign manager. So McMahon made an offer: Everybody would go to Iowa! That way there would be nothing and no one for Trippi to be afraid of. Still, Trippi refused. Finally, Dean himself made the request. Again, Trippi said no.
When asked by U.S. News how he could refuse the request of the candidate, Trippi replied, "Howard asked people to do a lot of things." Trippi often acted dismissively toward Dean and made no secret of it. "They didn't talk ," Ford said. "It was ridiculous." When Dean would call in from the road to find out what was happening, Trippi sometimes refused to take the call. "It was a clash of wills, period," said Ford, who was close to both men. "Joe felt he knew how to run the campaign. Howard was so new in the beginning that he depended on Joe. But Howard learned quickly."
Why didn't Dean replace Trippi on the spot? Trippi held an enormous trump card: his understanding of the Internet and its power to raise money. The Deaniacs, those devoted Internet supporters of the campaign, loved Trippi, felt he understood them, and saw him as an important symbol of their movement. If Trippi got the boot, they might not take his departure calmly. And, in fact, in the fall, a revolt among the Deaniacs would paralyze the campaign.
advertisement
