"THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED:Democracy, The Internet and The Overthrow of Everything." — Joe Trippi (272 pages, Regan Books $26.95)

Presidential candidate Howard Dean's flame was quickly extinguished by voters.

The legacy of his campaign - a legacy widely pronounced to be a good thing - is the power of a well-organized Internet effort to raise money, awareness and energy for candidates.

Joe Trippi was either a part of that or he was "it" completely. Either way he has something to say regarding democracy in his first book.

"I believe that the Internet is the last hope for Democracy. I believe that Americans will use it in the next decade to bring about a total transformation of politics, business, education, and entertainment."

Trippi was Howard Dean's technologically plugged-in campaign manager, who oversaw an overwhelmingly successful Internet fund-raising machine.

Trippi spends his writing time wisely in explaining the energy buzz along the new power line drawn from mouse-click box to ballot box. Of course, none of it got his man elected. Trippi uses a chunk of his book to tell a compelling "I was there" saga of the Dean drama of politics at the highest level.

Trippi exhumes the not-yet-cold dead campaign for us - and gets himself dirty in the telling. But it's a post mortem examination done in the name of political science.

The title of Trippi's new book, to be released July 6, is a groaner: "THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED."

A cliche will never start a revolution. The subtitle rectifies things somewhat, though: "Democracy, The Internet and The Overthrow of Everything."

So what's inside?

First there are the 14 pages of black and white pictures in the middle. If I judge reading habits correctly, that's the first place most people will go. There you see Trippi, a fairly typical middle aged white guy, in bipolar scenes of complete relaxation and full-on, campaign-induced stress.

These pictures put a face to the behind-the-scenes man's reputation. When Trippi got married to Kathy in 1997 they had "campaign" buttons stamped for the occasion. That's the first sign that you're going to be thrown into the world of a political junkie, a world infused with the sordid and fueled by a desperate hope.

I go into the book with few pre-conceived notions. I know Trippi was asked to leave the campaign after spending millions and millions of dollars. If there's a clear cause and effect there, few people know of it - and I'm not one of them.

The Dean for America Campaign raised $8 million dollars by June 2003, long before the majority of voters had heard of Howard Dean, former governor of ... where? Vermont? Oh. This amount of cash was almost entirely through people hitting the donate button on DeanforAmerica.com or BlogforAmerica.com.

This woke ALL candidates up to a bright digital dawning.

The Internet's best attraction is it is self-guided. You read what's on your screen, it's boring or it turns you off, and you still have a million choices. A vote is much the same. You go with what agrees with you the most - what you're in the mood for.