Clinton Contradicts Her Own Campaign On Shaheen Resignation

Just when you thought there were no more wrinkles in the Clinton and Obama campaign's tit-for-tat on the issue of youthful indiscretions...

On Monday, Hillary Clinton contradicted her top strategist by stating that her campaign had asked Bill Shaheen, the New Hampshire co-chair, to resign after his controversial remarks Barack Obama's past drug use.

"We asked him to step down," Clinton said during a media blitz that saw her go on six morning news shows. "Every time somebody in my campaign says something that we don't believe is right, appropriate, we take care of it... We move quickly. And we will keep doing it."

Sounds sensible. Except that last week, Clinton's chief strategist Mark Penn told Hardball's Chris Matthews just the opposite, that the campaign was not involved in the resignation.

MATTHEWS: Did you tell him to step down?

PENN: The senator made that clear. No, he stepped down. And he made clear...

MATTHEWS: Do you tell him to step down? It took 24 hours for him to do it. Do you think he did it in time...

PENN: No. No.

Shaheen's statement also implied that it was his decision to leave the campaign.

"I made a mistake and in light of what happened," he said in a statement, "I have made the personal decision that I will step down as the Co-Chair of the Hillary for President campaign."

Either way, Shaheen is gone. And so, hopefully, is this cycle of stories.