Penn steps down as Clinton’s chief strategist

Mark Penn has stepped down as chief strategist for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D-N.Y.) presidential campaign, days after he apologized for meeting with Colombia's ambassador to discuss a pending free trade deal.

{mosads}Clinton campaign manager Maggie Williams released a statement saying that Penn "asked to give up his role" as chief strategist. Penn and his polling firm, Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates, will continue to provide polling advice, Williams said. Pollster Geoff Garin and spokesman Howard Wolfson will coordinate the campaign's strategic message team from now on, she said.

Penn had taken the meeting with Colombia's ambassador as CEO of lobbying firm Burson-Marsteller, but he later called it an "error in judgment." His lobbying firm had performed public relations work in an attempt to gain support for the Colombia-United States free trade pact, which is currently pending before Congress. Clinton has campaigned against its approval.

Penn had served as a top adviser to President Bill Clinton's 1996 re-election campaign and both of Hillary Clinton's Senate races.