Clinton Campaign Gets A New C.O.O.

A major hire in Hillaryland.

Howard Paster, formerly the chief Capitol Hill liaison for President Clinton in the White House and a long-time informal campaign adviser, will serve as the campaign's chief operating officer, two Democrats with knowledge of the move said today.

Mr. Paster, 61, will report to campaign manager Maggie Williams directly and will be responsible for carrying out her orders

He will coordinate the campaign's various operational departments -- scheduling, press, liaison, communications, political, field. (Jessica O'Connell, the campaign's national operations director, resigned this week.)

Williams announced Paster's addition to senior staff this morning.

It was in part because of Paster's advice that Mark Penn, now Clinton's chief strategist, was brought into the Clinton inner circle ahead of the former president's re-election. Paster is a senior executive at WPP and supervises its A-list marketing companies, including Burson-Marsteller, of which Penn is CEO.

Clinton Kremlinologists were buzzing this morning at the news that the campaign hired, for the first time since 2000, a second pollster. Geoff Garin was brought aboard to survey Indiana and other states.

A Clinton spokesperson confirmed the news but declined to comment.

Comments

Just brilliant. Your campaign is floundering, and so you go out and hire the guy who recommended the odious and incompetent Mark Penn.

I continue to be amazed that more Hillary supporters don't get the fact that the bungling and amateurish handling of her campaign is reason enough not to trust her to be our President. They started with every advantage a politician could desire, and have screwed it up big-time.

Posted by dockworker | March 20, 2008 3:50 PM

Hillary's campaign seems to be a disagreeable set of individuals who bicker and lack clear direction. We are always talking about how some surrogate runs the campaign.

With Obama, it's clear he's in charge and directs the message. He is the leader. Axelrod and Plouffe carry out orders, but Obama runs his campaign.

Where's Hillary's executive 'experience'?

Posted by Chris | March 20, 2008 4:00 PM

Garin's a good hire. Does it mean the end of Penn? It should -- his tenure has been a disaster. Not sure if Garin could have fixed it before, and doubt it now, but it's still the right move. Garin in a mechanic.

P

Posted by PBurns | March 20, 2008 4:13 PM

Any idea why Jessica Collins "resigned"? Mistakes, personal choice?

Posted by Karen | March 20, 2008 4:15 PM

Any idea why Jessica O'Connell "resigned"? Mistakes, personal choice?

Posted by Karen | March 20, 2008 4:15 PM

This belongs in the Man Bites Dog Dept., Rats Boarding Sinking Ship!

Posted by Danny C. | March 20, 2008 4:27 PM

Obviously this means she's not going away for awhile ...

Posted by Glen T | March 20, 2008 4:40 PM

Glen T - That's what I was going to say. That's what to ultimately take away from here. And her campaign will continue to be dysfunctional, and it will continue to lead to scorched-earth tactics.

Posted by socctty | March 20, 2008 5:50 PM

Gee...too bad Fox News already hired Karl Rove.

Posted by Recalcitrant | March 20, 2008 7:02 PM

The new pollster in the Clinton campaign, Geoff Garin, was an undergraduate at Harvard at the same time as Mark Penn (classes of '75 and '76). They both wrote for the Crimson, so they must have known each other. That makes it seem unlikely that this is an anti-Penn move, but who knows.

Posted by Paul Turner | March 20, 2008 7:55 PM

Now, Hillary will have her own Paster problem.

Posted by interferon | March 20, 2008 11:01 PM