Longtime associate of former Vice President AlGore.
Posted on 01/28/2004 3:31:48 PM PST by El Conservador
BURLINGTON, Vt. - Democrat Howard Dean (news - web sites) shook up his faltering bid for the White House on Wednesday, replacing his campaign manager with a longtime associate of former Vice President Al Gore (news - web sites).
In a further sign of distress, the one-time front-runner implemented cost-cutting measures as he looked ahead to a series of costly primaries and caucuses, asking staff to defer their paychecks for two weeks.
"Governor Dean asked Roy Neel to join the campaign as CEO and Joe Trippi resigned as campaign manager," said Tricia Enright, a campaign spokeswoman.
One source said the former Vermont governor offered Trippi a spot on the payroll as a senior adviser, but he decided to quit rather than accept the demotion.
One day after absorbing a double-digit defeat in New Hampshire at the hands of rival John Kerry (news - web sites), Dean publicly and privately expressed his determination to remain in the race. At the same time, in a conference call with members of Congress who have endorsed him, he was told bluntly that finishing second wasn't good enough — that he had to show he could win a primary.
"He said he understood," said one lawmaker who was involved in the call.
Once emulated for his ability to raise cash on the Internet, Dean's campaign chairman Steve Grossman said Wednesday that he must win a presidential primary in the next two weeks to keep even his most loyal donor base — those giving modest amounts over the Web — contributing enough to make him financially competitive.
The tumultuous events capped a swift slide for Dean, who was the campaign front-runner at the dawn of the election year, the man with money, momentum and a lead in the polls nationally and in most states.
But that was before he faded to third place in the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 19, and dealt himself a further setback with an appearance before supporters that even aides conceded was overly animated and less-than-presidential.
Democrats outside the campaign were surprised that Dean would make such a dramatic move in the middle of the primary race.
"It's the campaign's acknowledgment that things have gotten drastically off course," said Anita Dunn, who helped run Bill Bradley (news - web sites)'s failed 2000 campaign. "Often, when that happens you make a managerial change, no matter how well the manager was doing."
Kerry fired his campaign manager last fall, the first step toward righting his campaign.
"Generally, changes of this kind are made before the contests," Dunn said. "When they're made in the middle of the contests there's a certain kind of disruption."
Trippi, who has a quarter-century of experience in Democratic politics, is widely credited with helping Dean build the campaign that transformed him from asterisk in the polls to front-runner by the end of 2003.
Before leaving the campaign, Trippi thanked the staff, telling them how proud he was of their efforts.
"I may be out of the campaign, but I'm not out of the fight," Trippi told The Associated Press moments before leaving the Burlington, Vt. headquarters.
"This is a great campaign to change the country," he said. "I regret anything I may have done to let down the hundreds of thousands of people who support Howard Dean. I hope they will stay with Howard Dean. This campaign can change the country."
Trippi's departure sent shockwaves through the campaign, where he is a popular boss and something of an icon to the thousands of Internet-savvy supporters across the country. It was not unusual for crowd members to look for Trippi's autograph before Dean's at campaign events.
"Trippi has been a driving force in the campaign. There's no question it's been built around his interesting personality," said Donna Brazile, who helped run Gore's campaign. "But there's more to the Dean campaign than Joe Trippi. He has been the heart of it, but he does not embody it."
As word of the staff change circulated, the official blog on Dean's Web site lit up with mixed reaction from campaign supporters. Several praised Trippi's skills that they said brought Dean's candidacy as far as it has, while others said it was past time for a shake-up.
"Let's all give our thanks to Joe Trippi as he took this campaign from obscurity to front runner status. Now is the elections and a different kind of campaign was needed," said a post from "rwilson4dean."
"Good, Trippi needed to be replaced," wrote "NJ for Dean." "Maybe HQ will start to listen to us!!!! Get better ads!"
Dean campaign officials said the move is a sign of Gore's growing influence in the campaign. He recommended that Neel play a larger role, officials said.
Trippi's critics in the campaign had complained to Dean about the massive TV ad expenditures in Iowa and New Hampshire, a share of which went to the media firm run by Trippi and Steve McMahon.
Neel, Gore's former senatorial chief of staff, served as chief executive of the U.S. Telecom Association in Washington before working on Gore's 2000 presidential campaign. Neel was named to head Gore's transition team in anticipation of the former vice president winning the White House.
Neel pledged to join Dean's campaign after Gore endorsed the former Vermont governor on Dec. 9.
At the time, it appeared that Gore would help stabilize Dean at a time when he was suffering from the perils of being a front-runner, his record and campaign performance subject to increased scrutiny.
The decision to shake up the campaign was made in a series of discussions in Burlington, Vt. — on a day that his rivals were already out campaigning for votes in the seven states that hold primaries and caucuses on Feb. 3.
___
AP Special Correspondent David Espo and AP Political Writer Ron Fournier in Washington contributed to this report.
Dean's campaign has officialy entered meltdown mode!!!
Who'd he get, Naomi Wolf? Bwahahahahahahahahaha!
Must not have been very good at his job :)
Isn't that what they said about Kerry when he replaces his campaign manager when he was in big trouble just a very few short weeks ago?
Wasn't it Ronald Reagan who fired John Sears as his campaign manager the day after the New Hampshire primary in 1980? Yes it was! It think it was Tom Brokaw that said Reagan was out of money and was doomed to lose to George H. W. Bush in the coming primarys. Reagan fired his campaign manager the night after the New Hampshire primary. The media said that was sure proof that Reagan was toast.
It did not turn out that way.... did it.
Darned!
Did Dean even look at my resume??
Did he really think that my proposal to "set up campaign headquarters in a Las Vegas strip club" and "Party until the credit card's declined" would be any worse than what's he's done so far?
Dean did not like the results of his management staff, so that man is gone.Yet when a huge percentage of US kids can not perform at grade level, not one ineffective teacher is filling out job applications at McDonalds and the NEA is still in control of Agenda Indoctrination....my hand hovers trembling over the "hypocrisy " button...but that would be too easy....
Longtime associate of former Vice President AlGore.
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