Netpolitique : "There isn't a single f__ vote to be had on
the internet!": according to a Joe Klein article in
Time magazine this week, this was a quote by Jim
Jordan (he denies it), former campaign manager of John
Kerry, at the time the Kerry campaign was getting
concerned about Howard Dean's surge. I read this quote
as I was halfway through your book. This is actually a
pretty good summary of what most politicians and
political consultants still think. What do you tell
them?
Joe Trippi : They don't know what they're talking about...
attitudes like that continue to keep the Democratic
Party in the dark when it comes to the internet. This
is why Republicans beat us on talk radio and cable
television; they understand the importance of new
technology and invest enormous amounts of money in
it.
More and more people receive their political new
exclusively from the internet. As that trend
increases my hope is that no one will take the
internet for granted... folks like Democrats.com are
now even identifying likely voters through email.
This is the future... anyone who does not recognize
that is out of touch and will soon find themselves out
of work
Netpolitique.net : You describe in your book how you used the
Internet to fuel an "insurgent-type" of campaign. Is
this model limited to progressive, outside of the
mainstream, campaigns, or do you expect it to become
common currency among activists across the political
spectrum?
Joe Trippi : This is definitely not the exclusive property of the
progressive movement though it is likely to be more
successful for those not in power in either party.
The internet is a bottom up tool which is why it
challenges the front runners and political parties
which are traditionally run from the top down. That
mentality just won't work online and the grassroots
know when they are being taken advantage of... they
want real involvement, not something given by the
current power structure.
Netpolitique.net : You've described the Dean campaign as an
"open-source" campaign, by opposition to the
traditional top-down, command-and-control approach, in
which everyone could participate to comment, propose
and improve. As you indicate, this is anathema to most
political professionals. If Howard Dean had made it
all the way to the White House, could one govern that
way?
Joe Trippi : Had Governor Dean made it to the White House I'm
confident there would be a different mindset in
relation to the grassroots. Some of the best in our
campaign came from our grassroots supporters. I'd
hope that the dialogue would continue had we gotten
that far and I'm pretty sure it would have. What form
it would have taken I'm not entirely sure.
Netpolitique.net : Are you interested in what happens overseas as
well? Have you been consulted by parties or candidates
outside of the US interested in revving up their
internet strategy?
Joe Trippi : In general, I don't discuss the work I do with
clients until that work is complete... whether they
are in the United States or not. What I will say is
that this bottom up revolution is not only an American
experience. I'm confident we'll see these same
movements in other countries as well and I wouldn't be
surprised if they are even more successful as
technology and access improves.
Netpolitique.net : Our last and ritual question: what are your 3
favorite websites/blogs?
Joe Trippi : Well of course I'm going to say joetrippi.com my
personal blog but I also enjoy reading dailykos.com and atrios.blogspot.com which are both great examples of successful, progressive, constantly updated blogs that have built communities
around their readership.
Tags :