Hillary Clinton's chief strategist Mark Penn resigns
More bad news for Hillary Clinton
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Monday, 07, Apr 2008 09:57
Hillary Clinton's senior strategist has been forced to resign in the latest high-profile departure from her campaign team.
Mark Penn, who has advised Ms Clinton and former president Bill Clinton for over a decade, stepped down "after the events of the last few days", a statement from campaign head Maggie Williams released yesterday evening said.
Mr Penn is a senior executive at Burston-Marsteller, a lobby firm which had taken the Colombian government as clients over the South American country's support for a trade agreement with the US.
Ms Clinton's campaign opposes the agreement, leaving Mr Penn with a conflict of interest which has forced him from his senior position.
Geoff Garin and Howard Wolfson will take over his duties "going forward", while Colombia has withdrawn its contract with Burston-Marsteller citing a "lack of respect".
The New York senator is in a tight race against Barack Obama to win the Democrat party's nomination for this year's United States presidential election.
Having been the frontrunner in the years running up to 2008 the primary campaign has seen her fall behind in state and delegate counts, with many loyalists blaming Mr Penn's strategies for her below-expectations showing.
Ms Clinton's campaign has focused on her experience as a long-standing senator and former first lady, but this has helped Mr Obama's message of change.
The April 22nd Pennsylvania primary, ending a long break since the last contest in Mississippi won by Mr Obama, is now only two weeks away.