Hillary Clinton’s quick fall from the defacto Democratic nominee to fighting for her political life and/or future is simple. It is because of Mark Penn, or I should say because of the two positions he holds within Clinton’s presidential campaign.

First a little background. Penn is the worldwide CEO of the PR firm Burson-Marsteller (B-M), the fifth largest public relations firm in the world and the president of the polling firm Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates (PSB). Penn also has a long (and successful) background with the Clinton’s:

He is also well known for serving as President Clinton’s pollster and political adviser for the 1996 re-election campaign and throughout the second term of the administration [….] He has worked with Senator Clinton for years, including the polling and messaging for both of her successful US Senate campaigns [….] Currently, he serves as Chief Strategist to Senator Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

Although his official title with Clinton’s presidential campaign is “Chief Strategist” I can’t find a single article that isn’t crystal clear he is her most senior campaign manager and top pollster. And therein lies the problem. His dual roll.

In either single role I am sure Penn is a stellar professional that adds both measurable and unmeasurable benefits to a political, PR, or marketing campaign.

But there is a reason there is always a “natural” tension between strategy/messaging and market research. Although it is simple to say and/or think the two should work in tandem, that is not usually the case. So when one individual is in charge of both you have serious problems.

The messaging folks want the market research to confirm their strategies and tactics are correct and working. The market research people on the other hand think their data should drive the development of messaging strategies and tactics.

When you have one person in charge of both aspects of a campaign the polling/market research is going to reflect the broad strategy, “experience” vs. “change” in this case, that the campaign manager has sold as a “bill of goods.”

It couldn’t be more clear to me that is exactly what we are seeing at this very moment.