The Clintonites have found their scapegoat, and his name is Mark Penn. The pollster and political consultant announced yesterday that he will step down from the post of chief strategist for the Clinton campaign. This, after it was revealed that Penn had met with representatives from Colombia, the U.S. ally in South America. Colombia had hired Penn as a consultant to help shepherd the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, which Bush transmitted to Congress today, to passage. Clinton opposes the agreement. So Penn had to go. The truth is that the long knives have been out for Penn for some time. He is blamed either for (a) Clinton’s losses or (b) not being “progressive” enough in an increasingly left-wing Democratic party. But such arguments inflate Penn’s importance. For evidence of this, look no further than Advertising Age‘s new profile of Penn, out today: