• by January 29, 2004

So, I'm wondering whether Howard Dean's blood-curdling primal scream in Iowa last week might be construed as a new form of media.

The gut-busting speech might be perfect fodder for his rivals - they could stream it digitally over their Web sites or create a special link from their blogs. Replaying it just a smidge, say 15 seconds or less, could be used by Dean's rivals in the ultimate counter-offensive. Running a digital video stream of Dean's twisted rant with the headline: "Is this man capable of being president?" might allow his competitors to lure more fundraising dollars and more votes on Super Tuesday. Picture a snippet of Web video with the clean-cut cool of John Edwards streamed alongside "the rant" - it's a slam-dunk for the Dean opposition, hitting the guy while he's down.

Self-inflicted wounds are the hardest to mend. Joe Trippi's exit yesterday as Dean's campaign manager is also likely to hurt. Trippi is the maverick responsible for the campaign's success at Internet fundraising, as well as mobilizing and galvanizing volunteers via the Web. The competitors rushed to the Net via the Dean model. Now let's see whether they will use the Web for negative advertising - they've got the video in the can.