Mark Penn, Sen. Hillary Clinton's chief strategist and longtime confidant stepped down from the presidential campaign late Sunday night.
His resignation came after a politically embarrassing week during which it was reported that he met with Colombia's Ambassador to the U.S. to discuss passage of a bilateral free-trade agreement -- a pact Clinton opposes.
Howard Wolfson, a spokesman for the campaign who will now coordinate Clinton's "strategic message" told the Huffington Post that Penn offered up his resignation to the Senator on Sunday and that she accepted. Penn's firm, however, will continue to be involved in the campaign's polling. [Read the whole story here in the Huffington Post]

The fact that Mark Penn is stepping down from a leadership position in Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign is a good thing. Yet it doesn't lessen my disappointment that Senator Clinton gave so much power to a big-bucks, anti-union lobbyist in the first place! We'll see if this move actually sways anyone on the fence to support Senator Clinton. I suspect most people, who were unhappy with Mark Penn, will still continue to support Senator Obama. Some people already behind Senator Clinton may be glad of the change, if only because it ends a messy distraction.

Speaking of messy this final phase of the primaries is painful to watch. While I'd be happy to see Senator Clinton simply surrender and get behind Senator Obama, she probably won't. She has every right to keep fighting but I wish she'd jump on the Barack bandwagon... sigh...