Dining

Item Description

Have dinner or lunch with Joe Trippi, heralded on the cover of The New Republic as the man who “reinvented campaigning."  Widely recognized as one of America’s leading and most influential political strategists.  Dinner or lunch at a mutually agreed upon restaurant in either New York City or Washington D.C.

Item Special Note

Born in California, Trippi began his political career working on Edward M. Kennedy’s presidential campaign in 1980. His work in presidential politics continued with the campaigns of Walter Mondale, Gary Hart, Richard Gephardt, Howard Dean and, most recently, John Edwards.

Trippi has run and consulted on numerous presidential, senate, congressional, gubernatorial and mayoral races. These include the successful campaigns of U.S. Senator Alan Cranston of California, Mayor Tom Bradley of Los Angeles, Governor Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, and Congressman Tim Holden of Pennsylvania.

In 2004, as the National Campaign Manager for Howard Dean’s presidential campaign, Trippi pioneered the use of online technology to organize what became the largest grassroots movement in presidential politics. Through his innovative use of the Internet for small-donor fundraising, “Dean for America” raised more money than any Democratic presidential campaign to that point – all with donations averaging less than $100.

According to The Atlantic magazine, Trippi’s influence on Democratic Party politics has been profound and lasting:

“The small-dollar Internet donor base attracted by Dean and flogged relentlessly by Trippi has transformed the party’s fundraising. Every single campaign uses Trippi-patented tactics to raise money. The men and women Joe Trippi cultivated on Dean’s staff have stormed the gates and occupy positions of power in major party and campaign offices.”

In 2008, Trippi signed on with Senator John Edwards’ presidential bid as a senior advisor, focusing on messaging, Internet strategy and online engagement. He was also responsible for producing the campaign’s television spots, which were widely applauded as “innovative” and “highly creative” and among the best spots of the 2007-2008 election cycle.

Trippi also has an extensive international resume. In 1993, he worked for then PASOK leader Andrea Papandreou’s successful campaign of Prime Minister of Greece, as well as for his son, George Papandreou, in 2007. Trippi advised former British Prime Minister Tony Blair during his successful bid for a third term in 2005. In 2006, he worked for Romano Prodi on his winning race for Prime Minister of Italy. In 2007, Trippi consulted on text messaging strategies to the opposition Action Congress (AC) Party in Nigeria.

In addition to his political work, Trippi has consulted with a number of leading corporations including MasterCard, Toyota, DaimlerChrysler, SES Americom, LabCorp, IBM, Lionsgate Films, BestBuy, MSNBC, Wave Systems, and Progeny Linux Systems. Trippi is especially acclaimed within the technology community. In 2004 he won Wired Magazine’s Rave Award for his use of innovative technology in politics. Leading Internet companies, from Yahoo!, to Google, to Bebo invite him to speak to their employees and affiliates.

Joe Trippi has been profiled in The New York Times, The New Republic, Fast Company, The Atlantic, The Washington Post and The New York Times Magazine. He is a CBS News political analyst and former Harvard University Fellow.

Trippi is the author of “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: Democracy, the Internet and the Overthrow of Everything,” the story of how his revolutionary use of the Internet combined with an impassioned, contagious desire to overturn politics-as-usual grew into a national grassroots movement – and changed the face of American politics forever.