Mark Penn At Strand

I had an email from Planned Parenthood saying the event Let's Talk About Sex was full. So I was feeling a little stranded. The website did say the event was full but I had sent a RSVP over email anyways.

Just then I got a Facebook email from Arthur. Mark Penn was doing a book event at the Strand in the evening, and we were going to show up and protest. Ended up the protest program did not happen. But I wanted to see this guy Penn in person, size him up.

Strand is the legendary bookstore near Union Square. The lady who introduced Penn said her grandfather had founded the store, and her husband was an Oregon Senator, "and my father is there in the back." Family business.

I sat in the front row next to this woman who said she had known Penn for 20 years. I asked her if she voted for Hillary. She said yes. She had been a news producer with ABC News.

What did I see? He came across as someone very academic. But he has been a fixation in the Clinton camp since the Clintons went national. That asks for respect. He is one of those guys that crunch numbers, not cereals for breakfast. The flip side is when you get hit by something like a paradigm shift, which is what Obama 2008 is, you don't know what to do.

The book is an impressive one. Does Hillary know he is out selling his book instead of doing work for her?

Mark Penn Microtrends
Marc Ambinder (August 20, 2007) - Political Book Watch: Mark ... His are an attempt to explain why people often make choices that are inexplicable to the naked eye. ....... a huge number of adult women play sports .... 57% of journalists are women. The professions of public relations and the law are trending toward the same lopsidedness. ..... In '04, Penn estimates that nearly 5M ex-cons were "disenfranchised." .... The surplus of single women "are left out of the institution of marriage." They are also more economically engaged than single men: single women bought twice as many new homes than single men in 2005. .... Within the past ten years, the number of women who sought younger male boyfriends has quintupled. ...... As of 2006, Nearly 60% of Americans have been involved in an office romance. 3.5 million Americans are in relationships where one partner lives in a different city than the other. More than 3 million marriages are interracial. ...... The proportion of new dads over 40 years of age "is skyrocketing."
Amazon.com: Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow's Big ...
Mark Penn's Microtrends Interview

Clinton's PowerPointer - washingtonpost.com One of the party's most prominent pollsters ..... While not her campaign manager in name, Penn controls the main elements of her campaign ..... If Clinton seems cautious, it may be because Penn has made caution a science ..... a wealthy chief executive who heads a giant public relations firm, where he personally hones Microsoft's image in Washington .... "Mark brings a certain certainty about his point of view that can feel like an anchor in stormy seas" ..... In their $5 million Georgetown mansion, Penn and his wife, Nancy Jacobson ..... Jewish and pro-Israel, like Penn ..... Israel. In 1981, he and business partner Doug Schoen helped reelect Menachem Begin, one of the most right-wing prime ministers in the country's history ...... Penn started his polling business with Schoen with the 1977 New York mayoral candidacy of Edward I. Koch, and he got to the White House through another New York pollster, Dick Morris ...... Penn likes to swim in as much hard information as possible ..... his business has exploded over the decades. ...... Penn and Schoen adapting corporate models to the political sphere and vice versa. ..... relies on a team of about 20 employees to do most of the day-to-day work
Mark Penn - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
TPM Cafe | Talking Points Memo | The Real Case Against Mark Penn









Man Friday

So on Friday I took the number one guy on my corporate team out to an Indian buffet lunch in Little India not far from the Obama 2008 victory party on Super Duper Tuesday, and ends up Adam's first place to live in the city was this high rise across the street from Tonic, where the Obama party was. There was an icecream place on the ground floor of the building. We went for it after lunch.

My first weekend in NYC was in 1999 when I was with a dot com in Philly for summer: I had helped found it. I had come over to the place of two high school classmate bankers who lived in a high rise exactly like this one. I shared that story with Adam.

"This might be the very building," I said.

Adam said he was flying off to vacation on Sunday. His girlfriend in New Haven will take his car. He said he had no idea where he was going.

"Now you are sounding like a startup guy," I said.

For the next six months, he will travel much - he might end up in China, Romania - and he will log into the virtual office. It is going to be cloud group dynamics the way it supposed to be.

Lunch was yet another brainstorming session. This was the first time I bought him lunch. He has bought me meals many times at his place on the 19th and 1st.

We are about to hire some IIT Mumbai people. Mumbai is a sister city to NYC.

Adam is the reason round one money got raised. And I am the reason he is going to drop out of Stanford Business. He applied for fall. Dropping out will read great in the bio pieces on him in the papers.

Silicon City

Adam ended up in Belize.

Tonic East, Tonic West

Some woman at the Zipper Factory (Planned Parenthood: A Different Kind Of Event) told me the main Hillary party on February 5 was at "Tonic West." It was a DL21C event near Times Square. I was puzzled.

That's interesting. The Obama party was at Tonic East, and the Hillary party was at Tonic West. I did not even know there was a Tonic West.

That did not just happen. Somebody made it happen that way. Who? (Tonic: What A Party) To me it reads like Elizabeth Caputo's political poetry.

Tonic East - NYC
THE TONIC BAR :: The Met Lounge :: Times Square, NY

A little bit of information like this puts me back to square one. The whole issue feels so unresolved.

Morgan Stanley raised more money for Hillary than any other bank in this city. CEO Mack has been an enthusiast, I guess. By the way, my man Friday Adam wrote directly to Mack to create his 2.0 job with Stanley that he has now duly quit.

And with the big hits banking has taken the past six months or so, it is a good idea to stay squarely on the boss' good side. That is totally understandable.

Besides I have never struggled with liking Hillary. I have always liked her a lot. (A Vote For Barack Is Not A Vote Against Hillary)

This was a political statement to go after the vote in the Bronx: An Ode To White Women: I Think I Am Going Hispanic. I made that statement to help out Barack. We did carry the city, didn't we?

Caputo spent the major chunk of her time at the Parenthood event with some Hispanic looking dude. She came alone. At one point I thought she did the bag thing to him. So no interest, just a statement.

It all feels unresolved.

My feeling was, okay, so you are not uncomfortable that I am at the same event. That is different from getting thrown out of your last two events. But that is still not concrete.

This is what I mean when I say, you don't get to have it two different ways. You can't be this white woman who is out to make me look bad. And be someone who likes me at the same time. That puts me into socially unsafe situations.

Granted this event was after February 5, so the political tension was nonexistent.

But still it gets very confusing for me. My thing is simple. Either you don't like me and possibly feel uncomfortable in my presence, in that case I am on schedule to staying away. Or if you like me, tell me you like me, and let's hook up.

I sent out a RSVP for this.

Tuesday, February 12

8:00 pm

Women's Issues Committee Meeting: Monthly Issues Chat
RSVP for Location and More Information

Please RSVP!

If I don't get the location info, I move on. Maybe I am seeing things.

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Planned Parenthood: First Impressions
Message To Elizabeth Caputo: SOS Call
Planned Parenthood: A Different Kind Of Event
Tonic: What A Party
Bill Perkins: Next Mayor Of New York City