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Mark Penn quits as Clinton's chief strategist

James Forsyth

Sunday, 6th April 2008

Mark Penn, the controversial pollster blamed for many of the missteps of the Clinton campaign, is stepping down from his role as chief strategist. A brief statement from campaign manager Maggie Williams reads:

“After the events of the last few days, Mark Penn has asked to give up his role as Chief Strategist of the Clinton Campaign; Mark, and Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates, Inc. will continue to provide polling and advice to the campaign.
Geoff Garin and Howard Wolfson will coordinate the campaign's strategic message team going forward.”

The events Williams is referring to is the fuss over Penn meeting with Colombian officials about how to win Congressional approval for a free trade agreement that Clinton opposed. But the real reasons for Penn’s ouster go much further back—he has tense relations with many other campaign staffers and has argued for a campaign strategy which many feel has prevented Clinton from displaying her more human side to voters.

With Penn being stood down both Clinton’s campaign manager and chief strategist have now left their roles. Expect the fallout from Penn’s departure to dominate press coverage for the next few days as Penn fights for his own reputation while others try and lay the blame for all of the Clinton’s troubles at Penn’s door.

Update: ABC News is reporting that Penn's resignation came following pressure from the candidate herself who believed that Penn had removed himself from dealing with any client of his firm who could be perceived as having a conflict of interest with the campaign.