Mark Penn: Buckling Under the Pressure of an Unfavorable Poll

[FishForLunch]

All is fair in love and war, the centuries–old proverb states. Politics is not included, but given the way the game is played in modern–day America, maybe it should be. That’s the sense I had again this morning watching Mark Penn, the chief political strategist for Democrat Hillary Clinton, denigrate our latest Zogby Interactive survey simply because it showed his client in a bad light (Link to Latest Poll Number). Penn made the contention on the MSNBC morning news program hosted by Joe Scarborough (Link to Video)

Penn mischaracterized this latest online Zogby poll as our first interactive survey ever – a bizarre contention, since we have been developing and perfecting our Internet polling methodology for nearly a decade (Zogby Intreractive Methodology), and since Penn’s company has been quietly requesting the results of such polls from Zogby for years. We always comply as part of our pledge to give public Zogby polling results to any and every candidate and campaign that asks for them. What is interesting is that no other campaign has made as many requests for Zogby polling data over the years than Penn has made on behalf of Clinton.

Because Mark Penn is a quality pollster himself, we chalk up his contention that our poll is “meaningless” as a knee–jerk reaction by a campaign under pressure coming down the stretch. Several other polls – Zogby surveys and others – have shown her national lead and her leads in early–voting states like Iowa and New Hampshire have shrunk. This is not unusual. These presidential contests usually tighten as the primaries and caucuses approach.

Fritz Wenzel
Director of Communications
Zogby International

[dude1394]

It's the clinton war-room team.

Lord..anyone that would vote to have Clintons back in the white house are nuts.

[Mavdog]

mark penn looks like a fool. hillary will have to throw him overboard.

[FishForLunch]

Mark Penn will poll anything I guess, looks like Hillary will not go to the restroom without a poll.
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HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Barbara Streisand’s endorsement of Hillary Clinton a day after word came that Oprah Winfrey would stump for Barack Obama made for delicious timing, and The New York Post, for one, couldn’t resist slapping together a battle-of-the-divas “tale of the tape,” stacking up Babs’s “71 million albums sold” against Oprah’s “9 million viewers.”

But was the polarizing Ms. Streisand, an icon of Hollywood’s liberal left, really a wise choice as a comeback to a cultural phenomenon so popular and powerful she can singlehandedly anoint bestsellers? And for a candidate as polarizing as Mrs. Clinton?

As the dust settled Wednesday, Ms. Streisand’s people were insisting that the timing was entirely accidental, and acknowledging privately that the comparison wasn’t exactly welcome. But they insisted that Ms. Streisand’s endorsement was a mightier weapon in a Democratic primary than one might guess after scrolling through some of the more vicious rantings about her that surface in comment sections of blogs like this one.

The spotlight on the two entertainment icons was just the latest flurry of attention for Hollywood backers of presidential candidates. Though Mr. Obama made a splash by picking up the support of David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg of Dreamworks early this year, their partner, Steven Spielberg, and Peter Chernin of News Corp. came out for Mrs. Clinton soon after, scotching any notions that her Hollywood base was deserting her.

Since then Rob Reiner has added his name to Mrs. Clinton’s camp, while Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt have come out for John Edwards. And Chuck Norris, better known for infomercials than butt-kicking movies these days, has surfaced behind the Republican Mike Huckabee.

Still, the big celebrity endorsements haven’t really started to roll in yet, and likely won’t until campaigns seek stars on the stump as the caucusing and voting start.

But fund-raising, not endorsements, is the name of the game in Hollywood, and advisers to donors here (where one can, indeed, make a nice living doing that) say the top 1,000 or so donors long ago reached the contribution ceiling of $2,300 per candidate, many of them maxing out on a few different primary contenders. A Clinton event set for next month, in fact, had to lower its minimum donation to $250 to be assured of a good turnout, one organizer said. And an Obama fund-raiser on Dec. 10 offers tickets for as little as $50, $25 for students.

Ms. Streisand, like many others, has spread her money around this year, writing checks to Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Obama, John Edwards and Christopher Dodd. She had resisted pleas from the Clinton campaign to come out publicly for the senator months ago, said two associates (who insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to divulge such things), and she met with Mr. Obama recently. But Ms. Streisand’s ties to the Clintons go way back, and it was no surprise when she finally made up her mind to come back into the Clinton fold about three weeks ago.

Ms. Streisand’s aides quickly contacted the Clinton campaign to arrange the details, the associates said, and the diva began drafting her own statement, which then went through several iterations, as did a news release announcing it. To avoid its getting missed over the holiday weekend, the campaign determined to announce the endorsement the Monday after.

But Mrs. Streisand’s evacuation from her home in Malibu during the weekend’s fires there set those plans back one more day.

Word of Ms. Winfrey’s plans to campaign for Mr. Obama, which came early Monday, caught Ms. Streisand’s aides by surprise -– and they quickly guessed how it would look.

“We didn’t know the Oprah thing was happening,” one insisted. “These conversations were going on with the campaign for weeks and weeks now.”

Still, the singer’s value to Mrs. Clinton shouldn’t be scoffed at, another Streisand associate said on Wednesday.

“We would’ve low-keyed it,” the associate said. “But the campaign says it’s a net plus. They polled it. Among Democratic primary voters, even in places like Iowa, they love Barbra. By the way, she just sold out concert tours around the world. And she’s great for fund-raising. In fact, a fund-raising letter signed by her went out this morning.”

To be sure, Ms. Streisand’s liberal credentials go deep, and date back before either of the Clintons’. She has campaigned for every Democratic president since JFK, her aides said, and for down-ballot candidates, too: She once stumped for Bella Abzug of New York on the back of a flatbed truck.

Aides said that moment was very much on her mind in deciding to support a potential “Madame President.”