A couple of days ago as I was walking my daughter home from school, I passed a group of people who I immediatelly guessed were associated in some way with the Edwards campaign because they looked so out of place in our little village: overdressed, tense and way too serious!
Then, I recognized one of the faces - from TV! It was Joe Trippi!
Well, he was certyainly not going to come all the way down to Chapel Hill just to have lunch with buddies and enjoy the weather, so I knew something was afoot at the Edwards campaign. But, although I live a spitting distance (OK, if you spit hard downwind) from the HQ, I don't have a 'mole' inside the campaign who could tell me more. But I was guessing that Joe was signing on the campaign in one way or another.
And, well, that is what happened. See his announcement on the Edwards blog and more commentary in the NY Times and on DailyKos.
Some of the old Deaniacs are panicking (apparently they don't like Trippi and he appears to be able to rub some people wrong), but I am not worried. He was not hired to run the campaign or to control the money or to craft the message. He will not have a central or a very powerful role in the campaign. He just joined an already enormous and star-studded Internet And Media team as an advisor.
Well, "advisor" is a very vague term. So, he'll offer "advice" and it is up to Bonior and Edwards to decide if the advice is brilliant or crock. And with Trippi, there are bound to be some brilliant ideas every now and then. It is better if those are offered to Edwards than to a competitor, I guess....
Anyway, I am much more excited about Kate Michelman being a part of the team than Trippi.....
