Did Mark Penn sabotage Hillary?

[bilgewaterbill]

I'm no Hillary fan.

It just strikes me as odd that the guy who literally wrote the book on micro-segmentation polling is beaten by not paying attention to his own polling results.

http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/top-5/2008/04/07/mr-microtrends-undone-by-microtrends

If indeed, Penn was hired by Dick Morris for the '96 race, could the bond between them have been greater than his bond with the Clintons? We all know the animosity the toe-sucker holds for Sen. Clinton - Is it possible that the animosity was felt by Penn as well?

[anonymous171]

1. Maybe he's been a repug mole for the last 16 years.

Sent to sabotage our campaigns. I heard he tried to pull some insane stunt with Gore and Gore fired him because of it.

[bilgewaterbill]

2. What kind of insane stunt?

[anonymous171]

3. He completely misinterpreted the results of a poll

He said that it was all in Gore's favor and then when they re-did it they realized that he Gore was BEHIND.

Or something like that. I forgot the details.

[bilgewaterbill]

4. That tends to kill my theory. That just means he's totally inept.

[hisownpetard]

6. Which is easily overlooked 'cause he's so hawt!

[cliffordu]

9. Yep, that's what you get for hiring the eye candy.

[bilgewaterbill]

10. 'Scuse me while I

:puke:

[hisownpetard]

14. S'amatter? You don't like the dead squirrel he's got Velcro'd to the top of his head?

[Cha]

7. "The Mark Penn Factor"

"Time Magazine remembers when Mark Penn nearly sank the Gore 2000 campaign
How do these people keep getting new clients?"

The Mark Penn Factor
by Karen Tumulty

Just up on Time.com is this story I have written on Hillary Clinton's not-quite-fired former chief strategist, the complications that come with all of his outside work and some questions that have been raised about his research methods.

As I was writing the story, I happened to come across another story that Michael Duffy and I had written for dead-tree TIME the week before Penn was (actually) fired from Al Gore's presidential campaign in 1999. It included this tidbit, which I had forgotten:


While a bloated, imperial operation could hardly be expected to pick up on warning signs, Gore insiders particularly fault Mark Penn, the lead among Gore's half a dozen pollsters. Penn shares his energies with the President, Hillary Clinton and Microsoft chairman Bill Gates. Over and over, Penn told the Vice President that Bradley posed little or no threat, that Bush was not as far ahead as public polls suggested and that most voters were confusing the Texas Governor with his father. At one point, when Penn was insisting that Gore was no farther than 10 points behind Bush, a campaign official quietly asked another pollster to check Penn's work. The number came back: Gore down by 18. Penn declined to be interviewed but let it be known through an intermediary that his position is secure.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5434786

[bilgewaterbill]

15. Penn tanked Gore AND Hillary???

[DearAbby]

5. I always wondered about that....n/t

[berni_mccoy]

8. I think it all boils down to greed. Obviously, Clinton wasn't Penn's only client

when she is all he should have been focused on. Add a little arrogance and Rove-wannabe and I think you have a reasonable explanation for the catastrophic failure of her campaign.

[bilgewaterbill]

16. You think he was on the take? Or just not focused?

[berni_mccoy]

18. Both.

[davidpdx]

11. If Clinton does lose this race

we all should send him our gratitude for helping sink the Clintons even if it was done indirectly. Heck of a job Penny!

[madrchsod]

12. no she did it to herself

it was her responsibility to see what was happening. penn sucks ass but hillary can`t see it.

[Swamp Rat]

13. Yes n/t

[Gore1FL]

17. I don;t think he is competent enough.

Ickes voted against seating the delegates of FL and MI. Penn has done one stupid thing after another. That makes Wolfson Curly, by all accounts.

[izzybeans]

19. He's just another man getting rich of his own windbag incompetence.

[tekisui]

20. No, Hillary knew what he was. She must approve and be just like him.