Until I learned otherwise from Paul Farbi of the “Washington Post”, I was sympathetic toward Joe Trippi when Howard Dean replaced him as campaign manager in favor of Gore’s boy. After all, thought I, Joe had successfully made Howard a household name, even though his strategy led to Dean’s peaking much too early.
However, it appears that Joe Trippi indiscriminately ran Dean TV ads to the tune of $300,000 as early as last June, seven months before a ballot was cast in Iowa’s caucus. In August over a million was spent for TV spots, including, of all places, a $100,000 ad in Texas!
Farbi says: “As contributions to Dean flowed in over the Internet, some of the money flowed right back into advertising. After Iowa, when Trippi was replaced and subsequently resigned, Dean had exhausted the $41,000, 000 the faithful Internet Deaniacs had contributed.
But this isn’t a story about poor strategy; it is an expose on Trippi, who it turns out was a partner in a firm that handled Dean’s media buying since 1992. The firm receives a 7% commission each time there is a TV or radio purchase. My, my, questionable characters are not the exclusive domain of the White House and Wall Street.