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Last update - 08:32 07/04/2008 Clinton's top strategist quits over Colombian free trade conflict By Reuters Tags: Hillary Clinton, Mark Penn  Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's chief political strategist, Mark Penn, stepped aside on Sunday after news that he lobbied for a free trade treaty with Colombia that Clinton opposes. A meeting between Penn and Colombia's U.S. ambassador over the trade deal posed political problems for the campaign of the New York senator, who is vying with Illinois Sen. Barack Obama to become the Democratic nominee in the November election. "After the events of the last few days, Mark Penn has asked to give up his role as chief strategist of the Clinton campaign," the campaign manager, Maggie Williams, said in a statement. Advertisement Anxiety about free trade is widespread among the working-class voters Clinton and Obama are courting and both candidates oppose the deal with Colombia. Penn apologized for the March 31 meeting with the Colombian envoy, which he said was held in his separate role as CEO of Burson-Marsteller Worldwide, a lobbying firm hired by Colombia to promote a U.S. trade deal with the South American country. But the apology evidently wasn't sufficient. Aides said both Hillary and Bill Clinton were deeply angry upon hearing of the meeting and that Penn was quickly pushed to leave. Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis, who had been a spokesman in John Edwards' campaign, said Penn's departure was needed. "One of the worst kept secret in the whole Democratic race was that Penn's campaign strategy was not working and that the Clinton campaign has unfortunately paid the price," Kofinis said. "The truth is this the best move the Clinton campaign could have made and something that I imagine most Clinton supporters wished had happened months ago." Penn was known to get into angry shouting matches with other members of Clinton's team, including longtime adviser Harold Ickes and media strategist Mandy Grunwald, who often disagreed with his strategic advice and resented his unchecked authority to design the candidate's message. Penn pushed Clinton to adopt a meat-and-potatoes, issue-based campaign that stressed her strength and experience but managed to overlook voters' desire for fundamental political change, which rival Barack Obama was able to capture. Obama, who would be the first black U.S. president, is leading the race for the 2,024 delegates for the nomination but will not be able to reach that figure when all the primaries are over and in fact trails in polls in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, a Clinton supporter, predicted on NBC's "Meet the Press" that she would win by five to 10 percentage points. The state's Democratic senator, Robert Casey, an Obama backer, agreed "It's going to be tough." Some Democrats worry a prolonged fight will split the party into two camps, alienate voters and strengthen McCain. Bookmark to del.icio.us   My gay family Caryn Aviv shares her personal experience as a gay Jewish co-parent. Battle scarred Second Lebanon War film shows one officer's choice to keep his troops safe.   1.   Days of Greater Israel are numbered. 10:02  |  Chanalau, Tova 07/04/08   2.   Hillary on the skids (I hope) 13:43  |  Natallie Durson 07/04/08   3.   tova, obama never will be USA president. 14:16  |  v 07/04/08   4.   v#3 - obviously you`re not las vegas` best bookie 15:43  |  dana 07/04/08   5.   #3 Dana. America`s best? 16:33  |  John Allen 07/04/08   6.   Hillary death watch on Slate 16:45  |  Aphemia 07/04/08   7.   RE #5 18:17  |  Shalom 07/04/08   8.   #2 Natallie Civil Servant 19:05  |  Urani Diot 07/04/08

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