Penn Still Full Of Ink, Actually

So it looks like rumors of the demise of Mark Penn were greatly exaggerated. He's still sitting in on conference calls, he's still delivering poliing and message, and he's still part of the inner circle in the Clinton campaign. Even campaign spokepersons are acknowledging that he is playing an important role.

Which is fine, of course. But this also means that Penn's actions remain fair game for the rival campaign. He's either an advisor or he isn't, and these events clearly indicate that he is. And so the incident with the Colombian government on the pending free trade agreement, on which George Bush has forced a vote in the Congress, will continue to be a significant part of the debate. This seems like a bad strategy for the Clinton campaign; a clean break would have short-circuited the controversy.