Microtransactions and Beyond
By MARK PENN Published December 21, 2011 With the Republican primaries now just weeks away, the range of observers who are watching polls and assessing campaign strategies is expanding beyond political wonks and news junkies. While politics has always been an avid spectator sport, lately it’s become a field that […]
TIME IDEAS Is There Anything Left in Politics to Be Thankful For? Republican strategist Karen Hughes and Democratic pollster Mark Penn in their bi-weekly faceoff about Election 2012 Penn: There is one thing that all Democrats and possibly the country can be thankful for — the Republican presidential primary […]
Can the Republican Candidates Recover From Their Recent Implosion? Republican strategist Karen Hughes and Democratic pollster Mark Penn in their bi-weekly faceoff about Election 2012 Penn: Republican presidential candidates are daily violating President Reagan’s 11th Commandment — Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republicans. From debate finger-pointing to […]
How Much Trouble Is Obama Really In? Republican strategist Karen Hughes and Democratic pollster Mark Penn in their bi-weekly faceoff about Election 2012 Penn: Obama is resilient. He proved in 2008 that he knows how to size up a tough spot and come out swinging. This time around he is […]
Burson-Marsteller Chief Mark Penn on How to Handle a Crisis “As a leader, you have to balance the desire to say something right away with the need to get the facts,” Mark Penn, chief executive officer of Burson- Marsteller, says in Bloomberg Businessweek’s Sept. 26 edition. “People typically err on […]
By MARK PENN Published July 19, 2011 At the end of the day, I’d be surprised if there is a government shutdown coming out of the debt-ceiling negotiations — the Republicans learned in 1995 just how devastating that can be. People may want smaller government, but no government is something […]
By MARK PENN Published June 30, 2011 Just 10 years into a new century, more than two-thirds of the country sees the past decade as a period of decline for the U.S., according to a new TIME/Aspen Ideas Festival poll that probed Americans on the decade since the tragic events […]
The chief adviser to Hillary and Bill understands a thing or two about winning, losing, and Obama. Here he explains to GQ’s Lisa DePaulo how Obama could still end up out of a job next fall. 1. He Takes Another Big Risk—and Flops “Obviously, he took the biggest risk of […]
By MARK PENN Published January 31, 2011 Centrists of America, rejoice. After being out of whack for two years, the political system and the president have come back to the mainstream. For all of the drum-beating from both extremes during the election season, the result has been a surprisingly sensible […]
By MARK PENN Published January 23, 2011 In his State of the Union, President Obama has the opportunity, and even mission, to articulate the new direction he has taken in his presidency since the shellacking in the 2010 midterm elections. There is no doubt that he has radically changed course […]
Mark Penn is the President and Managing Partner of The Stagwell Group, a private equity fund focused on the marketing services industry.