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Top Clinton Aide Leaving His Post Under Pressure
By John M. Broder
The New York Times
Monday 07 April 2008
Albuquerque - Mark Penn, the pollster who has advised Bill and Hillary
Clinton since 1996, stepped down under pressure on Sunday as the chief political
strategist for Mrs. Clinton's struggling presidential campaign after his
private business arrangements again clashed with her campaign positions.
Mr. Penn, who was widely disliked by Mrs. Clinton's fiercest loyalists
and had bitterly feuded with many of them, sealed his fate last week by meeting
with officials from Colombia, which hired him to help secure passage of a bilateral
trade treaty with the United States that Mrs. Clinton, a senator from New York,
opposes.
Mr. Penn met with the Colombians in his role as chief executive of Burson-Marsteller,
a global public relations firm. He has refused to sever his ties to the company,
which also represented Countrywide Financial, the nation's largest mortgage
lender, and through a subsidiary represented Blackwater Worldwide, the military
contractor blamed for numerous civilian deaths in Iraq.
Mr. Penn's shift - he will continue to do some polling -
is the latest upheaval in a campaign that has seen its manager replaced, faced
critical money shortages and has often lagged behind Senator Barack Obama of
Illinois in a cohesive message and ground strategy. The move comes at a crucial
juncture, just two weeks before the Pennsylvania primary on April 22, which
Mrs. Clinton needs to win to keep hope of her nomination alive.
Mr. Penn's work on the trade treaty with Colombia threatened to undercut
Mrs. Clinton's support among the blue-collar voters who are a crucial
part of her base, as well as call into question the sincerity of her populist
economic message.
A statement from Maggie Williams, the campaign manager, and comments from aides
suggested that Mr. Penn voluntarily stepped aside, but other knowledgeable aides
said that Mrs. Clinton was furious when she learned of the Colombia talks and
insisted on Mr. Penn's demotion. Mr. Clinton concurred in that judgment,
aides said.
The Clinton campaign declined to make Mr. Penn available for comment. On Friday
he apologized to the campaign for taking on the Colombian contract.
For months, many have wondered why Mrs. Clinton had protected the gruff, rumpled
strategist. Many rivals within the campaign held Mr. Penn responsible for the
flawed electoral strategy that is considered partly to blame for Mrs. Clinton's
difficult political position, trailing Mr. Obama by more than a hundred delegates
and facing a very narrow path to winning the Democratic nomination.
Mr. Penn advocated the plan to focus on a limited number of big state primaries,
ignoring many smaller states and caucuses, where Mr. Obama built what appears
to be an impregnable lead in pledged delegates.
Mr. Penn also early on resisted efforts to humanize Mrs. Clinton, insisting
that her personality was not a detriment and that voters would be drawn to her
experience and presumed competence. He repeatedly pointed to polling data to
support his position, leading to battles with other aides who later said it
was the glimpses of vulnerability and humanity seen after her loss in Iowa that
enabled her to rebound.
In a terse statement Sunday evening, Ms. Williams, the campaign manager, said,
"After the events of the last few days, Mark Penn has asked to give up
his role as chief strategist of the Clinton campaign."
His polling firm, Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates, will continue to provide
polling and advice to the campaign, the statement said. Geoff Garin, who has
been conducting polling for the campaign and will continue to provide data,
and Howard Wolfson, Mrs. Clinton's longtime communications director, will
coordinate the campaign's strategic message from now on, the statement
added.
Mr. Penn's departure as chief adviser could have an effect on Mrs. Clinton's
message during the remaining contests. His strategy - emphasizing Mrs.
Clinton's strength and experience - has been controversial for months.
Critics have complained that his approach allowed Mr. Obama to seize the larger
theme of change that has come to define the 2008 election.
As the former first lady's initial approach failed to blunt Mr. Obama's
rise, Mr. Penn increasingly favored tougher attacks; some colleagues argued
internally that they would be counterproductive.
Mr. Garin, who advised Mrs. Clinton's winning campaign for a Senate seat
in 2000 and only recently joined her presidential bid, has argued throughout
the primaries that her route to victory lies less in assailing Mr. Obama than
in buttressing her own image as a leader who could connect with average Americans
and improve their lives.
Mr. Penn's decision to meet last Monday with Colombia's ambassador
to the United States in his role as head of Burson-Marsteller put Mrs. Clinton
in a precarious political position as she tries to convince Pennsylvania voters
that she is the best candidate to address their concerns about jobs and the
economy. Many voters in Pennsylvania, like in Ohio, which Mrs. Clinton won,
blame trade agreements for the hemorrhaging of jobs that has left areas like
Scranton with high unemployment rates and a preponderance of lower paying jobs.
The Colombian government hired the Burson-Marsteller firm last year under a
$300,000 one-year contract to help secure passage of a bilateral trade treaty
with the United States. Mrs. Clinton, like many Democrats, has opposed the deal,
saying it is unfavorable to American workers.
On Saturday, the Colombian government fired Mr. Penn's firm, saying his
efforts to distance himself from them were an insult.
There has been a long history of resentment toward Mr. Penn within the Clinton
campaign because of the feeling that he was letting his business interests trump
the interests of the campaign. People from the beginning have questioned why
he had not recused himself from his role at Burson-Marsteller.
Although the end of the primary season is drawing near, campaign aides said
Mr. Penn's demotion would change the internal dynamics of the Clinton
camp, with a more collegial atmosphere replacing the first-among-equals structure
Mr. Penn created around himself.
Mr. Penn worked his way into the Clintons' favor during President Clinton's
1996 re-election campaign. He provided the polling used by Dick Morris, then
an influential adviser to Mr. Clinton, to create Mr. Clinton's small-bore
campaign strategy, much of it aimed at wooing so-called soccer moms with positions
like support for school uniforms and for the V-chip to monitor violence on television.
When Mr. Morris had to quit in 1996 because of his association with a call
girl, Mr. Clinton's campaign went on "seamlessly," Mrs. Clinton
wrote in her memoir, "because Mark Penn continued to offer the thoughtful
research and analysis." He remained for the second Clinton term and through
Mr. Clinton's impeachment trial, demonstrating, among other things, one
of the virtues that the Clintons prized most: loyalty.
In 2000, Mr. Clinton's vice president, Al Gore, initially considered
hiring Mr. Penn for his presidential campaign, but he decided Mr. Penn was too
devoted to the Clintons to offer him objective advice. Mrs. Clinton, who described
him in her memoir as brilliant and intense, shrewd and insightful, hired him
for her first run at the Senate.
Mr. Penn and his business partner, Doug Schoen, began their polling firm in
1977 when they worked for Edward I. Koch's campaign for mayor of New York.
They went on to become deeply involved in campaigns for politicians in other
countries, including Menachem Begin in Israel in 1981. He also advised David
N. Dinkins in 1989 in his successful New York mayoral race over Rudolph W. Giuliani.
Mr. Penn advocated that Democrats did best when they campaigned from the center,
although this did not always sit well with others in the party. His clients
have included the Democratic Leadership Council and Senator Joseph I. Lieberman
of Connecticut, defeated in his Democratic primary and now an independent.
Mr. Penn described his philosophy in his book, "Microtrends," published
last year. Because of "niching," he wrote, "there is no one
America anymore" but "hundreds of Americas." His extensive
polling led him to believe that "Americans overwhelmingly favor small,
reasonable ideas over big, grandiose schemes."
Mrs. Clinton has not spoken to reporters since the news of Mr. Penn's
meeting with the Colombian officials broke at the end of last week. In several
public appearances this weekend, she gave no indication of anger or a pending
shake-up in her campaign. But at a rally on Sunday morning in Missoula, Mont.,
she said the contest with Mr. Obama was still very close and predicted many
"twists and turns" before it was resolved.
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Katharine Q. Seelye contributed reporting from New York, John Harwood
from Washington and Adam Nagourney from Santa Monica, California.
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