Quotes of the Day

Correction Appended: April 9, 2008

When a not-yet-world-famous political consultant named Karl Rove signed up back in 1999 to become the chief strategist for Texas Governor George W. Bush's presidential campaign, his client had a non-negotiable demand: Rove had to get rid of the lucrative direct-mail business he had run for 18 years. Bush, Rove once told me, had put it in the bluntest terms. "If I do this," Rove recalled Bush telling him, "I want you free and clear."

Hillary Clinton, by contrast, never insisted on any such promise from her political guru, Mark Penn. Indeed, the potential for conflict only increased when — as Clinton was launching her Senate reelection campaign in 2005, in a test run for a potential presidential bid in 2008 — Penn was named worldwide CEO of Burson-Marsteller, one of the largest firms in the world of public relations, a field in which Washington advocacy has been playing a bigger and bigger role. Last year, Bloomberg News reported that Penn's private blog for his Burson-Marsteller colleagues included an entry titled: "Workin With Hillary.: In it, he reportedly wrote, "I have found the mixing of corporate and political work to be stimulating, enormously helpful in attracting talent, and helpful in cross-pollinating new ideas and skills." "And," he added, "I have found it good for business."

Penn has long been the most controversial figure in Clinton's political orbit, in part because his other relationships have repeatedly placed her campaign in an uncomfortable position. Among his firm's clients have been drug companies, a tuna industry group, a tobacco firm and the controversial military contractor Blackwater USA. What finally forced Penn's demotion was a Wall Street Journal report last Friday that, as part of a contract Burson-Marsteller had entered into, he had met with the Colombian ambassador to discuss promoting a free-trade agreement with that country — even as Clinton was denouncing the deal, which is vehemently opposed by many of the unions that she is counting on to support her in the make-or-break Pennsylvania primary on April 22. The news caught the rest of the Clinton high command by surprise. A campaign source says Penn had promised to keep it apprised when he had any personal dealings with Burson-Marsteller clients who might present a political embarrassment for Clinton. "This was not among that litany," the official said.

Penn's outside work does not represent the first time that this kind of conflict has arisen in a presidential campaign. In 2000, for instance, Al Gore drew fire over the fact that a key aide, Carter Eskew, had done work on a tobacco industry advertising campaign that was aimed at undermining the Clinton Administration's tobacco settlement deal. (The work had been done before Eskew joined Gore’s campaign, and he left the firm at Gore’s request when he came on board.)

But neither of them held quite the central position that Penn has in the Clinton operation. That is largely because of the personal trust he enjoys from the Clintons themselves. Penn was little known outside of New York when he was brought in to help out on Bill Clinton's reelection campaign in 1996, and was credited with devising the strategy that helped get the President through impeachment. Rather than engaging in a public fight over the charges themselves, Penn advised, Clinton should focus on compiling a record of accomplishment — even modest ones that he had touted in his reelection campaign, like advocating school uniforms and providing cell phones for neighborhood watch groups. That way, even if the public was put off by his private behavior, it would be reminded of how much it liked the job he was doing as President.

Today, Penn's official biography on the Burson-Marsteller website touts the fact that there is a note on his office wall from Clinton saying "thanks" for helping him get through impeachment, along with one from former British Prime Minister Tony Blair declaring "you were brilliant" in helping him win his historic third election to the post. Alongside them are photos of Penn working with business luminaries Bill Gates and Bill Ford Jr.

When Hillary Clinton hired Penn for her 2000 Senate campaign — after Penn was ousted from the Gore presidential operation after clashing with the vice president and his team over strategy — he advised her to put her effort into making inroads into the hostile Republican territory in upstate New York. Today, she points to her success as proof she can draw voters outside the traditional Democratic base. (Penn, Schoen & Berland, which Penn had co-founded in 1975 as a Harvard undergrad, generated a reported $31.4 milion in revenue the year Clinton was first elected, and was bought in 2001 by London-based WPP Group Plc, the world's second-biggest advertising company and owner of Burson-Marsteller.) But in this campaign Penn, who has never worked in such a high-profile position in a Democratic presidential primary, has been widely blamed for insisting that Clinton emphasize her experience in a political climate where voters seem to be thirsting for change.

There are other aspects of Penn's way of doing business that have rankled officials in the Clinton campaign. Unlike most campaign pollsters, he does not delve deeply into the numbers he has gathered when he makes his presentations and recommendations. "He never shows you the crosstabs," says one Democratic strategist who is familiar with Penn's work. "He does a PowerPoint, and he never shows you the data that underlies the conclusions he is presenting." A source who knows the workings of the Clinton campaign says that, after much wrangling over that issue, Penn started turning over his data to the top echelon of officials there — but that it usually came in weeks after a decision had already been made and executed on the basis of his advice.

Just exactly how much difference the reduction in Penn's formal role will make remains to be seen. "These things are subtle, and I think it's way too early to tell," says one top adviser to the Clinton campaign. "Finding a new role for him and a lesser role will take time." But time is what Clinton is lacking now, and the early indications are that Penn remains entrenched. The campaign announced Sunday that his duties as chief strategist will now be carried out by communications director Howard Wolfson and pollster Geoff Garin, who joined the campaign a few weeks ago. But the morning after his demotion, Penn participated in a morning conference call of the campaign's inner circle, and he was involved in debate preparation that afternoon.

The Obama campaign was quick to pounce. "Even though Senator Clinton said she'd distance herself from her chief strategist for meeting with the Colombian government, we later found out that he's still very much part of her strategy team," Obama spokesman Hari Sevugan said. And there are some on Clinton's own team who say that Penn's continued presence there is not a good idea. Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, her most high-profile supporter in the state, told USA Today that Penn "was just dead wrong" when he accepted the Colombian government business. Asked whether Clinton should sever her ties with Penn completely, Rendell replied: "Oh, I would."

The original version of this article noted that in 2000 "Al Gore drew fire when it was revealed that a key aide, Carter Eskew, had done work on a tobacco industry advertising campaign that was aimed at undermining the Clinton Administration's tobacco settlement deal." In fact, Eskew had done the work before he joined the campaign, at which time Gore insisted he leave his firm.

• Karen Tumulty/Washington
• The campaign's chief strategist has stepped down, but hasn't severed his ties completely, to the dismay of some insiders