The Little Brown Reader

That question is fueling a behind-the-scenes struggle between Howard Dean and his former campaign manager, Joe Trippi, as they jockey for control of the campaign's bounty of grass-roots supporters and search for personal direction after the former Vermont governor's failed bid for the presidency.

Dean, who dropped out of the race for the Democratic nomination this month, has been heading to his campaign headquarters in Burlington, Vt., each day. His agenda has included writing thank-you notes to supporters, surveying his debts, and plotting how to best steer the people who served as the lifeblood of "Dean for America" toward another cause he can lead.

Trippi, who pioneered the campaign's use of the Internet for fund-raising and for building an online political community before quitting Jan. 28 when Dean told him he was placing a chief executive officer over him, has been spending time at his farm in Maryland overlooking the Chesapeake Bay. Not only has he been an ever-present political analyst on television, he has launched a website similar in name to Dean's -- "Change for America" -- and urged Dean's former supporters to follow his lead.