Mark Penn leaving the Clinton campaign, sort of, is likely too late to help her.
WaPo:
Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Penn had met with Colombia’s ambassador to the United States to discuss promotion of a free-trade agreement, one that Clinton opposes. Penn apologized Friday for an "error in judgment," and the Colombian government responded a day later by firing [Penn’s company] Burson-Marsteller.
NYT:
Mr. Penn devised the plan to focus on a limited number of big state primaries, ignoring many smaller states and caucuses, where Mr. Obama built what appears to be an impregnable lead in pledged delegates.
…
Mr. Penn and his business partner, Doug Schoen, began their polling firm in 1977 when they worked for Edward I. Koch’s campaign for mayor of New York. They went on to become deeply involved in campaigns for politicians in other countries, including Menachem Begin in Israel in 1981.
…
Mr. Penn advocated that Democrats did best when they campaigned from the center, although this did not always sit well with others in the party. His clients have included the Democratic Leadership Council and Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, defeated in his Democratic primary and now an independent.
Penn was one of the the best arguments Obama had against Clinton within the Democratic Party. She would have been better advised to run from the left than from the center. She is more left to Obama in several serious issues, like healthcare, and should have used that more effectivly.
But anyway – the primary race is over (and I am not happy with the result.)
As Kos wrote (before the Penn firing):
No one can persuade Clinton to get out of the primary race. But by any metric imaginable, Obama has already won. The superdelegates aren’t self-destructive enough to change that, and the sooner they line up behind Obama, the sooner Democrats can focus their fire on the real target: John McCain. Clinton can stick around, but the rest of the party will move on without her.