Rating: 
Summary: Great personal story, important national message
Review:
Joe Trippi has produced a very fine personal story that clearly presents Trippi, Dean, and the Internet as the people's tool, in the context of "early days." His big point is in the title: this is about the overthrow of "everything."
I took off one star for two reasons: his very limited "tie in" to the broad literature on the relationship between the Internet and a *potentially but not necessarily* revitalized democracy; and his relative lack of attention to the enormous obstacles to electronic democracy getting traction, including the corruption of the entire system from schoolhouse to boardroom to White House.
There is a broad data point that Trippi missed that adds great power to his personal appreciation of the future: the inexpensive DoKoMo cell phone and network approach from Japan, when combined with Sony's new playstation that is connected to the Internet and opens up terabytes on online storage to anyone with $300, and to this I would add [...]semantic web and synthetic intelligence architectures--these all combine into finally making possible the electronic connectivity of poor and working class voters, not just the declining middle class and the wealthy. 2008 is the earliest that we might see this, but I suspect it won't be until after two more 9-11's, closer to 2012.
There are a number of gems throughout the book, and I will just list a few phrases here:
-- politics of concentric circles--find the pebble in every town
-- polling substitute's conviction for bullshit (his word)
-- citing Robert Putnam in "Bowling Alone," every hour of television watching translates to a 10% drop in civic involvement
-- what gets destroyed in scorched earth politics is democracy
-- McCain led the way for Dean in using the Internet and being an insurgent ("the Republican branch of the Republican Party")
-- the dirty secret of US politics is that fund-raising (and I would add, gerrymandering) take the election decision out of the hands of voters
-- the existing party machines are dinosaurs, focused on control rather than empowerment--like government bureaucracies, they cannot accept nor leverage disruptive innovation (see my review of "The Innovator's Solution")
-- Open Source Rules--boy, do I agree with him here. He describes Dean's campaign as the first really committed "open source" campaign, and this is at the heart of the book (pages 98-99). One reason I have come to believe in open source software, open source intelligence, and open spectrum is that I see all three as essential to the dismantling of the Maginot line of politics, institutional dominance of money and votes on the Hill.
-- Media will miss the message. He has bitter words for the media spin and aggression that helped bring Dean down, but his more thoughtful remarks really emphasize the mediocrity of the entertainment media and its inability to think for itself.
-- TIRED: transactional politics. WIRED: transformational politics
-- Democratic fratricide killed Dean--Gephardt on his own, and Clark with backing from Clinton, killed the insurgency
-- Cumulative Intelligence is a term that Trippi uses, and he puts in a strong advertisement for Google's gmail that I found off-putting. Googling on the term "collective intelligence" will get one to the real revolutionaries. When he quotes Google as saying it will "harness the cumulative intelligence of its customers" this reminds me of my own phrase from the early 1990's, one Mike Nelson put in one of Al Gore's speeches, about the need to harness the distributed intelligence of the Whole Earth. My point: we don't need Google to get there--collective intelligence is already happening, and Google is a side show.
Tripi's final chapter has "seven rules": 1) Be first; 2) Keep it moving; 3) Use an authentic voice; 4) Tell the truth; 5) Build a community; 6) Cede control; 7) Believe again.
There are a rather lame few pages at the end on Change for America. Forget it. Change for America is going to be bottom-up, from the county level.
I want to end by noting that at one point, on page 156, I wrote in the margin, "this is a moving book," but also express my frustration at how unwilling Dean and Trippi were to listening to those of us (Jock Gill, Michael Cudahay, myself), who tried very hard to propose a 24/7 team of retired Marine Corps watchstanders with structured staff processes; a massive outreach to non-Democratic voters including the 20$ of the moderate Republican wing ready to switch. On page 161 Trippi writes "The truth is that we never really fixed the inherent problems in the organization that I saw that first day...." I could not help but write in the margin, "We told them so."
The problem with Dean and Trippi is they became enchanted with the blogs and the newness of its all--as well as the fund-raising--and lost sight of the fundamentals. The winner in 2008 or 2012 will have to strike a better balance. One other note: the revolution that Trippi talks about is sweeping through Latin America, with active Chinese, Korean, and Japanese interest. It is just possible that electronic populism will triumph in Latin America before public intelligence becomes commonplace in America.
Rating: 
Summary: The best and worst of politics (and political writing)
Review: As an non-US resident, reading about the rise of Howard Dean after his fall, knowing very little about him beforehand other than that the net played a crucial role in his candidacy, has been fascinating.
On one hand, the campaign seemed to embody the very best aspects of democracy - truly "we the people" driven, open source, and positive & hopeful at a time when other candidates seem to be finger-pointing "he's weak on terrorism and you're all going to die if you vote for him" at one another.
On the other, "old politics" still floated like a spectre at the fringes of campaign HQ, waiting to bring the whole thing crashing down. Trippi writes of another key staffer sending BlackBerry messages saying she wanted rid of him... that the candidate never trusted his own Campaign Manager with budget control... if even the Dean campaign harbors that kind of back-stabbing and mistrust then what hope for real democracy?
As someone with a keen interest in the impact of technology on democracy there's no startling insights in this book... no "silver bullet" I can use on the campaigns in which I'm engaged. But there's an awful lot of encouragement here. The Dean Campaign proved beyond doubt the potential of the net to drive a bottom-up political movement all the way to the highest office. It now remains for someone to create a campaign that holds it all together.
Trippi does, as other reviewers comment, self-aggrandise all too frequently. His description of the rally in Bryant Park - of the energy that went into it and the hope it generated - had me misty eyed (you'd have to be a political operative and have been in a campaign to undersatnd that!). Then on the very next page he destroys the moment with another dollop of unnecessary self-praise.
It's not the first political book I've read where the author can't decide if it's a history or an autobiography. I guess it's because you need a big ego to get into politics in the first place, but I wish writers would save slapping their own backs for their memoirs.
You did a great job Joe. An amazing job, in fact. We just don't need to keep being reminded. Nonetheless, for anyone even remotely interested in politics a good, must-have read.
Rating:
Summary: Best read in years
Review: I consider myself to be exceptionally knowledgable about how politics works in this country and therefore highly cynical. This book, however, was very inspirational and provided a persuasive case for why internet communities and the new transparency of information the web produces has great potential to produce better outcomes for America and the world. Trippi has a gift for capturing the reader's attention and inspiring creative thinking. I had a tough time putting this book down. Thanks, Joe. I love politics, and you've made me excited to be alive at a time of great promise for the revitalization of our democracy.
Rating:
Summary: A glimpse into the bottom-up future
Review: I hadn't really realized it before I read this book, but television--and especially televised politics--is a ridiculous notion. Trippi talks candidly about how he rejected the old model with his work on the Dean campaign, a campaign more about its supporters than its candidate. He explains how bottom-up business models like eBay and Napster are shaking up traditional corporations, and how these phenomena are essentially movements rather than simple businesses--and are therefore ultimately unstoppable. Trippi walks us through the Dean campaign, dwelling more on the principles and themes than on day-to-day operations. This isn't a post-mortem or a retrospective as much as it is a vision for the future of American politics. Those of us who followed the campaign saw where the Internet took it; Trippi shows us what lies farther along that path--the trail he blazed--last year. Amazon itself has a grassroots element to it: the customer comments we post here can make or break the sales of the books we review. Trippi seems to understand this--he mentions specific people by their "handles" from the Dean Blog, at times giving them as much credit as he did seasoned political folks on the campaign staff. Great book, well-written, and fun to read.
Rating:
Summary: Great and Moving
Review: I read this book in one day. I got a hold of it and couldn't put it down. I found at times to have goose bumbs when Trippi explained many of the events and Dean's message of hope. Looking at what's happening now with our campaign for President it upsets to think that Dean offered a fresh breathe with his message of hope and change instead of the same old from Kerry and Bush. Great book. Insightful and really conceptualizes the future of politics in America and around the world.
Rating:
Summary: You Gotta' Believe
Review: I'm an insomniac, but it's rare for me to give up the 3 or 4 hours of sleep I am able to get in a night. Reading this book kept me up until the sun came up. Trippi's writing style is almost conversational and if you paid attention to the Dean campaign, you can almost hear his voice in your head while reading the book. It was a glorious, painful, and hopeful read, reliving some the incredible highs and incredible lows of the Dean campaign. I started following Dean online before Trippi was the campaign manager, so the book was full of nostalgia, but also some interesting nuggets of the "inside story." The book is not a tell-all, but talks frankly about mistakes, both Trippi's and the campaign's, and what could have been. Trippi follows the campaign from start to his stepping down as campaign manager, and the crash and burn is painful to remember for all of us. But just when the book reaches its lowest point, Joe "You gotta' believe" Trippi reminds us that we changed everything. And the Dean campaign wasn't a 10-second scream of an ending, it was a beginning of a movement to take politics away from the TV set and bring it back to our communities. The book ends on a positive note that rekindles the spirit and makes me think that next time, we'll succeed.
Rating:
Summary: A Useful Guide
Review: Joe Trippi is the not the first, last, or only word on the internet revolution. But he is one its finest. Working in politics, one quickly learns the distinction between people who 'get it' and people who 'don't get it.' I think we all have our own lists of who gets it and who doesn't.
Joe gets it.
This book is an explanation of how to get it. It teaches principles through narrative and also tells the story of the Dean campaign, how it rose, how it fell, and what we can learn.
If you're interested in winning, read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: As disappointing as it is interesting...
Review: Joe Trippi's account of the rise and fall of Dean's campaign is certainly interesting, but it is by no means accurate or definative, which is odd coming from the campaign manager himself. Just as he did while managing the campaign, Trippi focuses more on himself as a martyr of sorts and less on the actual people who powered the campaign. If he introduces another key player with respect--Dr. Judy Dean, Kate O'Connor, etc--you know that within a few paragraphs he'll be detailing how difficult they made his job. He even goes on at length about how disorganized the staff was--but wasn't he the manager? According to Trippi, he never really wanted to work on the campaign, and had vowed to quit after New Hampshire no matter what. Hmmmm. He goes on at length about how they created a campaign that was inclusive and inspiring to "regular people" but he doesn't seem familiar with who those people actually are/were, only with the trials and tribulations of his own rise and fall. You also won't find much in here about the millions of dollars he paid his own firm for ads that didn't work, or the long hours he spent out of the office appearing on numerous talk shows promoting...Joe Trippi. So, in the end, The Revolution really does portray the ways in which the campaign failed, but not, perhaps, in the way Trippi intended.
Rating: 
Summary: Poor writer, good politics
Review: Joe Trippi's contribution to American politics as Howard Dean's campaign manager is inarguable. But this book will bore and frustrate all but the most committed and uncritical Deaniacs.
Really, it's a pitch for Joe Trippi's post-Dean consulting career more than an adumbration of insider campaign stories. The book promotes Trippi a LOT more than it informs the reader what happened in the Dean campaign. It's perhaps the most self-aggrandizing memoir I've ever read (at one point he actually provides his SAT scores, as if we care), which is saying a great deal.
Trippi's philosophy will not be new to anyone who's read Wired magazine, and is presented with less sophistication than previous writers promoting the much-ballyhooed "bottom-up" Internet revolution. I'm glad for Trippi's work on the Dean campaign, but this book was a waste of a good weekend's reading time.
Rating:
Summary: Trippi Sees The Internet As The Key To A True Democracy
Review: This book is a history of the Dean Campaign for president and how the Internet and notably Meetup.com and the Dean website and blog supplied the funds and expertise (along with Joe Trippi of course) to drive his candidacy. Mr. Trippi notes that they initially set out to raise funds over the Internet and organize rallies in cities through out the country. Dean's candidacy with his disarming honesty and his first stand against the War in Iraq brought him some early media coverage. This started an Internet fire when Meetup.org coupled with the Dean web page with its feedback and fund raising aspects. The campaign grew exponentially with bottom up as well as top down feedback and leadership.
The Dean Campaign Was Self-Driven.
Joe Trippi tells how they would post a campaign poster, slogan or some other idea and ask for comments and thousands of people with experience in communications, graphics and other areas would volunteer their advice and vote on it. If he wanted to have a rally in a city like Austin volunteers though Meetup.com would put out the word arrange for the hall and fund the event. No need for political advance men or to consult local political operatives to raise and audience unless they were already on Dean's team. Thus through the Internet the campaign took on a life of it's own. Dean and Trippi raised about forty-to-fifty million dollars through the Internet. Then one day it all stopped.
The Political Professionals and The Media Attack.
Mr. Trippi blames Richard Gephardt and Wesley Clark's television attack ads for destroying the Dean candidacy in Iowa and New Hampshire. He downplays the importance of the Dean concession speech in Iowa as the key to the Dean downfall although he concedes that the mainstream media who at first overlooked the power and importance of the
Dean Campaign were all too happy to seize on this one event to vindicate their earlier failure to treat Dean as a serious candidate. The media played loops of the speech, for approximately forty-eight hours nationally, over and over to the detriment of Howard Dean and his campaign.
Trippi The Jeffersonian Idealist.
Trippi, a Jeffersonian purist, foresees that the Internet will help Americans take back the government from the hands of lobbyists and other large donors by returning political power to individuals who give $20 to $100 dollars to the candidate of their choice. One wonders if political power ever resided with these people in the first place or if this is just another piece of nostalgic exuberance on the part of Joe Trippi. He exhorts the reader to embrace his vision like a football coach at half time. If he weren't in politics he would be in sports driving his team home.
The Power Of Small Motivated Numbers.
Trippi states that Dean's 600,000 Internet supporters made a difference for a while. Why? Despite the fact that almost 115 million people voted in this election Dean's cadre were activists willing to go to rallies and donate time and money for a candidate they believed in. Most voters were passive observers only committing themselves in the voting both. These passives are hardly Jeffersonian democrats actively participating in the political process. In the end these passives decided the election not on The Iraqi War issue that Dean framed or the populist economic values that he endorsed but on the alleged moral values espoused by Pat Roberson, Jerry Farwell, Rush Limbaugh and others of the same ilk. So maybe Trippi's enthusiasm for a new Internet democracy is a little early. The Internet and other emerging electronic communication devices have possibilities that may change politics. Whether or not they will become the dominant force remains to be seen because unless the majority of American voters become more actively involved an organized minority will always be in control.
Who Is The Most Jeffersonian?
The interesting thing about this book is that Dean happened and then was so easily toppled by the political pros. Trippi doesn't mention it but the reality is the entrenched political establishment in both parties are well funded by large donors, lobbyists, businesses, trade groups, professional associations and unions and presently hold political power. Does he think they are going to cede power to a "pure" candidates funded and empowered by the Internet? Remember Kerry also raised about eighty million through the Internet for the 2004 general election. However he funded his primary campaign privately by mortgaging his house. Kerry used about half his personal wealth for the primary something Howard Dean did not do. So who is the most Jeffersonian?
Big Donors Still Dominate The Candidates.
Joe Trippi published his book before election, but these facts are helpful in evaluating his thesis.
Kerry's general election campaign received 74.6 million in government matching funds as did the Bush campaign.
Overall Kerry spent 318 million dollars to Bush's nearly 361 million. Thirty-five percent of Kerry's money came from donations of $2000 or more and Bush's $2000 or more donors constituted fort-nine percent of his overall total. By contrast Deans percentage of two thousand or more donors was eleven percent. Opensecrets.org.
Television Is The Persuader of Choice.
The other interesting thing Trippi mentions is that Deans Funds were mostly spent on television ads. So it looks like television with its sound bite ads, attack ads and last minute falsehood ads is still the dominant persuader in statewide and national elections. Therefore the book's title is somewhat misleading in this respect if there is a revolution in political funding it will still be spent in the form of television ads like the ones described. Trippi hates the influence of television, which he sees as costly and corruptive because the candidates have no choice but to raise the funds, by any means necessary, to advance their campaigns on television. Trippi doesn't mention that while television has its shortcomings especially in the advertising department those who were willing to read the articles by the print media especially newspapers like the N.Y. Times, The Washington Post and the L.A. Times and magazines like Time, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, and The New Yorker to name but a few got excellent coverage. However just as the Dean/Trippi campaign focused on the Iraqi war and domestic economic issues these organizations were also not focused on the importance of value issues to the election. It appears neither the mainline media nor the democratic candidate had their ear to the ground in the Heartland where the election was decided. In fact Kerry looked phoney and foolish in his duck hunting publicity events in Ohio. The people he thought he was fooling were alienated by his talking down to them in this way. Joe Trippi could have helped here.
However to be accurate the revolution Trippi is talking about is the way funds are raised and the use of the Internet as a political organizing tool with bottom up participation.
Dean Never Gave Trippi Overall Authority As Campaign Manager
Mr. Trippi states that Howard Dean never gave him financial control over the campaign and this prevented him from hiring an experienced political staff.
According to Mr. Trippi the reason Dean faded from the scene is that his campaign lacked an adequate staff of seasoned political organizers at a critical time in Iowa. Apparently he means people with savvy enough to get Dean off the stage in Iowa or at least write a concession speech that would have been made him more attractive as a candidate. That it seems was his Achilles heel, when he was tired and suffering from a defeat there was no one to protect him. Thus he was counted out in a small state like Iowa with influence greatly in excess of its political weight because of the media coverage of its early primary. The media and his adversaries exploited this moment to drain off his charisma. After the Iowa campaign Internet funds dried up as quickly as they appeared.
Yet it was Dean's spontaneity, and honesty that caught his supporter's attention in the first place. His early position on the War in Iraq bought him mainstream media coverage and that triggered the Internet support. However this spontaneity and honesty looked foolish and naive in Iowa on the night of the election.
Trippi indicates that he left the campaign without being fully paid. He also says Dean undercut him by never giving him full authority over the campaign that he infused with life by the Internet. That is the risk of working for a babe in the woods.
So what do we know from this book:
1. The Internet can be a significant source of funds.
2. Television ads are still the dominant means of reaching the electorate in state and national elections.
3. Internet donors don't seem interested in backing a third party candidate at least up to now.
4. Mainstream media can still make or break a candidacy.
5. Dean was easily toppled by the entrenched political establishment when the going got rough as was the John McCain campaign.
6. The internet and other electronic communicating devices other than television are still evolving and their ultimate impact on politics remains to be seen.
7. Lobbyists and other major fundraisers are not going to give up their death grip on politics easily.
8. The majority of American voters are not actively involved in the political process beyond voting and many times they do not even do that.
9. An active minority will always have disproportionate power.
This was a stimulating book to read, told by a man actually in the trenches and not some armchair prognosticator. One cannot help but be impressed Mr. Trippi's ideas, enthusiasm, optimism, love of political life and most of all the American people.Edsopinion.com
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