Hillary Clinton strategist quits amid Colombia trade flap

By Ellen Wulfhorst
ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (Reuters) - The top campaign strategist to Sen. Hillary Clinton, under fire for his meeting with a Colombian diplomat to discuss a free trade deal that the presidential candidate opposes, quit his post on Sunday, the campaign said.
"After the events of the last few days, Mark Penn has asked to give up his role as chief strategist of the Clinton campaign," Clinton's campaign manager, Maggie Williams, said in a statement.
She said Penn and his polling firm Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates Inc., would continue to provide polling and advice to the campaign.
News of Penn's March 31 meeting with Colombian Ambassador Carolina Barco Isakson, in which they discussed a free trade deal, first surfaced on Friday.
Penn apologized for the meeting, which he said he held in his separate role as CEO of Burson-Marsteller Worldwide, a lobbying firm hired by the South American country to help win the approval by the U.S. Congress of a free trade agreement with the United States.
But the issue plagued the campaign of the New York senator, who is vying with Illinois Sen. Barack Obama to become the Democratic nominee to run against Republican John McCain in the November election.
A Clinton campaign source said the candidate had been "disappointed" over Penn's meeting.
Over the weekend, Penn decided he should step down, and "Sen. Clinton agreed with him," the campaign source said.