The *NYTimes *has a story today about Democrat John Edwards' s "quietly overhauled" presidential campaign. The story notes that the campaign seeks to harness the power of the Internet to raise money, and to garner Edwards some attention at a time when he lags behind Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. 
Those who've been following the Internet campaigns won't find that much that is new here: The most interesting insight is the role that political Internet campaign pioneer Joe Trippi plays. The story notes:
"In a slow but striking power shift, advisers who champion the political power of the Web have eclipsed the coterie of advisers who long dominated Mr. Edwards's inner circle, both reflecting and intensifying his transformation into a more populist, aggressive candidate."
Of course, Trippi is an experienced campaign consultant in the offline world: He's been in this field for decades. So you'd expect that he has a larger perspective on how campaigns should be run both in the offline and online worlds. Yet I'm sure that this article and others will further focus his peers' attention on the question of how large of a role the Internet should play in this next election cycle.
The Times article further notes that Edwards's campaign has "taken on the appearance of Dean 2.0," meaning that anger at the status quo is a significant driver of the campaign.
Edwards is in California courting the finance and tech crowd today. He's scheduled to deliver a speech in Silicon Valley, and then he'll be here in San Francisco at a "Small Change for Big Change" campaign fundraiser.He's been doing these "small ticket" fundraisers since June. 1,000 people have RSVPed for the SF event so far. Even more people showed up for a similar event in New York. Other places the events have been held: Boston, Mass.; Chapel Hill, N.C.; Miami, Fla; Chicago, Ill.; Washington, D.C.; Houston, Texas; and Atlanta, Ga.
Update: Carla Marinucci of the San Francisco Chronicle has just posted this report on the tech policy speech.
Update II: The Times piece didn't go over too well with some folks. Colin Delany of ePolitics.com blasts the article. And The Hill ran an op-ed with some bald statistics about the Edwards' faltering Net campaign.
Photo: Rachel Feierman
