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Politics : Sioux Nation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: stockman_scott who wrote (131687)	4/5/2008 6:59:16 AM
From: sylvester80	Respond to of 362358

NEWS: Top Clinton aide 'sorry' for trade gaffe BY MICHAEL McAULIFF DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU nydailynews.com Saturday, April 5th 2008, 4:00 AM WASHINGTON - Hillary Clinton's know-it-all chief strategist apologized Friday for a major blunder - advising Colombia how to win a free-trade deal that Clinton opposes. Mark Penn, who wears hats as Clinton's top pollster and adviser - and as the CEO of public relations giant Burson-Marsteller - met early this week with the foreign government to hash out how to get the deal through Congress. Clinton, and rival Barack Obama, both slammed the deal this week in front of union crowds in Philadelphia. "The meeting was an error in judgment that will not be repeated and I am sorry for it," said an uncharacteristically contrite Penn. "The senator's well-known opposition to this trade deal is clear and was not discussed." Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson emphasized that Penn did not speak for Clinton. "Sen. Clinton's opposition to the deal is clear and Mark Penn was not representing the campaign in the meeting," he said. The South American nation hired Penn's firm to push its case, as well as another company stocked with talent from the Clinton administration, Glover Park. Some members of the Clinton campaign were furious over the gaffe and hoped it would push Penn out, but that appeared unlikely. Still, Obama supporters hammered the strategist, with the labor group Unite to Win demanding "Mark Penn has to go." Its executive director, Greg Tarpinian, declared that Penn was "playing a double role," telling Clinton how to oppose free trade while telling Colombia how to get it through Congress. mmcauliff@nydailynews.com