Hillary Shouldn't Be Penn-ed In

The good news for Hillary Clinton coming off her third-place finish in Iowa is that Senator Joe Biden dropped out. It's not that Biden posed a threat, it's that his staff is now available, and he had the best woman Democratic pollster and strategist in America on his team: Celinda Lake.

Why Lake wasn't on the Clinton team from the beginning is a mystery only Mark Penn can answer. He had been polling and messaging for Bill and Hillary going back to Bill's second term, and he's chief strategist for Hillary this year. Failing to get Lake on Hillary's team is just a symptom of the larger problem. Penn thinks he's Hillary's Lone Ranger, blocking out other advisers and dissent from his "she shall be annointed" strategy that has now imploded in Iowa.

Unlike his counterpart in Senator Barack Obama's campaign, David Axelrod, Penn managed to make the story all about him at a crucial point in the Iowa battle. In a three-way on the Chris Matthews show with Axelrod and Joe Trippi from Senator John Edwards' campaign, Penn managed to mention Obama's cocaine use even as he protested that the Clinton camp wasn't promoting the drug storyline. While Axelrod kept a steady focus on Obama as the embodiment of change, Penn flailed trying to respond to various campaign missteps all related to a lack of disciplined message focus.

Axelrod put an early, laser-like focus on independents and young people, but Penn had a failure of imagination that put a premium on conventional wisdom. And he's already at it again. Penn asked reporters on the campaign plane heading to New Hampshire, "Does everyone know everything they need to know about Barack Obama?'' It was hard to miss the veiled threat, but the real question is "Does Hillary realize how undisciplined and out of touch Penn really is?"

If Hillary won't get rid of Penn, she needs to tell him to broaden the team. Adding Celinda Lake would be a good start. Besides her work for the national party, Lake's helped elect a few women Hillary knows like Senators Barbara Mikulski (MD); Blanche Lincoln (AR); and Mary Landrieu (LA); along with Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano; Patricia Madrid, the first Hispanic woman Attorney General in New Mexico; and Carol Moseley-Braun, the first African-American woman to be elected to the United States Senate. And let's not forget Lake's work for the first woman Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, or her book on what women really want.

Lake is sure to give Hillary a different perspective than Penn's. Lake is already offering up some free advice, suggesting that Hillary's gender-based appeal may have backfired among young women voters. Lake surely has some ideas on what to do about that, but to be of any help to Hillary she'll have to get past Penn and in the front door.

Comments

[Moose49]

The fact that Hillary would have chosen a charlatan, incompetent and millionaire union buster as her chief strategist to me speaks volumes about why it would be a grievous error for Democrats to choose her as their nominee.

There's a snippet in today's Washington Post that speaks volumes about what a moron Penn is:

"Last January, days before her campaign officially began, top strategist Mark Penn huddled with a veteran of the family's fundraising efforts for an hour-long PowerPoint pitch. The presentation emphasized Clinton's experience and the inevitability of her nomination, but the fundraiser told Penn that he was missing something: the desire among the public for a change in the political tone and discourse.

"'That's what people say every election. It's not any more evident today than it is in other elections,' countered Penn, a veteran Democratic pollster.

"The fundraiser, who related the conversation on the condition of anonymity, signed up with Obama."

("Acknowledging Change in the Air," by Jonathan Weisman and Paul Kane.)

Both Hillary and Bill (think Dick Morris) seem to have a weak spot for scumbags. The campaign might try to make Penn a scapegoat for its failures, but ultimately, Hillary and Bill have to look in the mirror to see what the problem is.

And Robin Gerber is right -- Celinda Lake is 100 times the pollster and professional Mark Penn is.

[V4Vigilance]

Shhhhh...

Personally, I like HRC "Penn-ed" in.

Edwards '08

[timm0]

The chances of Penn voluntarily allowing - or asking for - any other voice is nil. It's 100% on HRC to make the call. My bet is on 'damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead [off the cliff]!'

[mediamarv]

Yep, Penn should go. He personifies the "old school" DC consultant that Dems are screaming against (Listening Harry?)!!!

[truth101]

Some good points, but it was overwhelmingly
a youth thing, and the REACTION will be that
the older people will come out and vote
HILLARY IN NH in reaction. PRETTY SIMPLE REALLY.

[ebbtide]

She chose to be penned in, didn't she? So much for the finger on the mood of the nation, the people, the rage of the nation against the DC establishment and about the war, which she voted for and has no regrets about it. So much for her ability to analize and act upon good jugement. I'll tell you what caused her decline to third in Iowa--people know a phoney when they see one.