Who powers Howard now?

Not Joe Trippi, Supreme Commander of Allied Deaniacs, anymore. Removed from his position as campaign manager, Trippi took a hike today.

His replacement? Well, if you called Central Casting for the consumate Washington insider, they'd likely send someone very much like longtime Al Gore associate Roy Neel. Neel has spent a quarter of a century rising from a Gore Senate staffer to an executive branch insider to an A-list lobbyist.

At first glance, it looks like Al Gore is calling the shots now, but there was another call that may have contributed to the decision. An AP story describes Dean getting drubbed by his Congressional endorsers in a conference call in which "...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."

One group apparently not consulted was the Deaniacs, who learned of the move in a blog posting from Trippi himself. Reaction at blogforamerica was mixed, but there was a heavy air of sadness in the contributions of people who felt they had a personal connection to Trippi, even if they only knew him as the signature line on a post or an email. He did, in fact, build up the Dean internet operation from scratch, while developing a small donor fundraising strategy that will stand as the model for any Democratic candidate at any level for a long time to come.

Of course, contrary to legend, he didn't do it for a broadband connection and all the Diet Pepsi he could drink. Long before he signed on with Howard Dean, Joe Trippi, idol of the grassroots, was a partner in the Beltway media firm, Trippi, MacMahon & Squires, and in that capacity held a lucrative contract for media production and placement, worth 15% of every TV buy.

And buy they did. After raising a record breaking $40 million dollars last year, Trippi traded almost all of it for a third place finish in Iowa and a second place finish in New Hampshire. Part of the legacy of that binge is a campaign staff that's apparently been told that their next paychecks won't be on time, if they ever arrive. Well, after all, they always said the real strength of the campaign was built on volunteers.

It's time for Howard Dean to cash in his travel vouchers, pay off his people and spend some quality time at home with Judy.

It's over.