James Carville

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James Carville

Born Chester James Carville, Jr.
October 25, 1944 (1944-10-25) (age 63)
Fort Benning, Georgia
Nationality United States
Education Louisiana State University
Occupation Political consultant
Spouse Mary Matalin
Website
Official site

James Carville (born October 25, 1944) is an American Former U.S. Marine, political consultant, commentator, actor, media personality and pundit. Known as the Ragin' Cajun, Carville gained national attention for his work as the lead strategist of the successful presidential campaign of then-Arkansas governor Bill Clinton. Carville was the co-host of CNN's Crossfire until its final broadcast in June 2005. Since its cancellation, he has appeared on CNN's news program, The Situation Room. As of 2006, he hosts a weekly program on XM Radio titled 60/20 Sports with Luke Russert, son of NBC's Tim Russert. He is married to Republican political consultant Mary Matalin.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life and career

Carville, the oldest of eight children, was born Chester James Carville, Jr.[1] at Fort Benning, Georgia, the son of Lucille (née Norman), a former school teacher who sold World Book Encyclopedias door-to-door, and Chester James Carville, a postmaster as well as owner of a general store. [2][3] He has Irish and Cajun ancestry. James Carville attended Ascension Catholic High School in Donaldsonville, LA.[3] Carville speaks with a distinct Louisiana dialect, which coupled with his quick and fiery rhetoric made him a charismatic manager of underdog political candidates and a mediagenic commentator during the Clinton Administration. Before entering politics, Carville worked as a litigator at a Baton Rouge law firm from 1973-1979, spent 2 years serving in the U.S. Marines, and worked as a high school teacher. He graduated from Louisiana State University with an undergraduate and law degree. Carville is married to Republican political pundit Mary Matalin, who had worked for President George H.W. Bush on his 1992 reelection campaign. Carville and Matalin were married in New Orleans in October 1993. They have two daughters: Matalin Mary "Matty" Carville and Emerson Normand "Emma" Carville. In 2008, Carville and Matalin relocated their family to New Orleans.[4]

Prior to the Clinton campaign, Carville and consulting partner Paul Begala gained other well-known political victories, including the gubernatorial victories of Robert Casey of Pennsylvania in 1986 , and Zell Miller of Georgia in 1990 . But it was in 1991 when Carville and Begala rose to national attention, leading appointed incumbent Senator Harris Wofford of Pennsylvania back from a 40-point poll deficit over White House hand-picked candidate Dick Thornburgh. Also noteworthy is that Wofford's campaign was where the "it's the economy, stupid" strategy used by Bill Clinton in 1992 was first implemented. Carville has since stopped working on domestic campaigns, stating that he would bring unneeded publicity, but he has worked on a number of foreign campaigns, including those of Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom, Ehud Barak of Israel's Labor Party, and the Liberal Party of Canada. In 2002, Carville worked to help American-educated Bolivian Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada win the presidency in Bolivia.

Carville at an All the King's Men press conference in 2006
Carville at an All the King's Men press conference in 2006

In 2004, he was brought in for last-minute consulting on Senator John Kerry's Presidential campaign, but he did not play a major role.

In 2005, Carville taught a semester of the course "Topics in American Politics" at Northern Virginia Community College. Among the guests he had come speak to the class were Al Hunt, Mark Halperin, Senator George Allen, George Stephanopoulos, Karl Strubel, Stan Greenberg, Tony Blankley, representatives from the Motion Picture Association of America, James Fallows.

In 2006, Carville switched gears from politics to sports and became a host on a sports show called 60/20 Sports on XM Satellite Radio with Luke Russert, son of NBC journalist Tim Russert. The show is an in-depth look at the culture of sports based on the ages of the two hosts (60 and 20). After the Democrats' victory in the 2006 midterm election, Carville criticized Howard Dean as DNC Chair, calling for his ouster, as he believed Dean had not spent enough money. In late November 2006, Carville proposed a truce of sorts.[5]

Carville is the executive producer of the 2006 film All the King's Men, starring Sean Penn and Anthony Hopkins, which is loosely based on the life of Louisiana Governor Huey Long.

Carville had believed that Al Gore, whom he helped put in the White House as Vice President in 1992 would run for President in 2008.[6] This prediction did not come true.

[edit] Bill Clinton's 1992 Presidential Campaign

In 1992, Carville helped lead Bill Clinton to a win against George H. W. Bush in the Presidential election. In 1993, Carville was honored as Campaign Manager of the Year by the American Association of Political Consultants. His role on the Clinton campaign was documented in the feature-length Academy Award-nominated film, The War Room. One of the formulations he used in that campaign has entered the language, derived from a list he posted in the war room to help focus himself and his staff, with these three points:

  1. Change vs. more of the same.
  2. The economy, stupid.
  3. Don't forget health care.

[edit] Hillary Clinton's 2008 Presidential Campaign

As an advisor to Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign, Carville told The New York Times on March 22, 2008, that New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who had just endorsed Senator Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination, was comparable to Judas Iscariot. It was "an act of betrayal," said Carville. "Mr. Richardson’s endorsement came right around the anniversary of the day when Judas sold out for 30 pieces of silver, so I think the timing is appropriate, if ironic,” Mr. Carville said, referring to Holy Week. Governor Richardson had served in President Bill Clinton's administration as both United States Ambassador to the United Nations and Secretary of Energy, and Carville believed that Richardson owed an endorsement to Senator Clinton in exchange for being offered those posts by her husband. Carville also claimed that Richardson assured many in the Clinton campaign that he would at least remain neutral and abstain from taking sides.[7] Richardson refuted Carville's account, arguing that he had not made any promises to remain neutral. Richardson claims that his decision to endorse Obama was "clinched" by his speech on race relations following the swirl of controversy surrounding Obama's former pastor Jeremiah Wright.[8] Asked to clarify his comments by The New York Times again on March 24, Carville said, "I was quoted accurately and in context, and I was glad to give the quote and I was glad I gave it. I’m not apologizing, I’m not resigning, I’m not doing anything.” Richardson replied by saying these comments were akin to many the Clinton campaign had made in recent weeks against others. A reporter that afternoon repeatedly asked Howard Wolfson, Clinton's communications director, if Carville should apologize and if the Clinton campaign tolerated such rhetoric. While initially stating that the language was not welcome, he finally stated, "you’ll have to ask James if he wants to apologize. If I had said it, I would apologize.” When pressed again, Carville laughed and then repeated that he stood by the comparison.[9] Carville went on to note,"I doubt if Governor Richardson and I will be terribly close in the future," Carville said,[10] but "I've had my say...I got one in the wheelhouse and I tagged it."

Even as Clinton's campaign began to lose steam, Carville remained both loyal and positive in his public positions, rarely veering off message and stoutly defending the candidate. But on 13 May 2008, a few hours before the primary in West Virginia, Carville remarked to an audience at Furman University in South Carolina, "I'm for Senator Clinton, but I think the great likelihood is that Obama will be the nominee."[11] The moment marked a shift from his previous and often determinedly optimistic comments about the state of Hillary's campaign.

After Barack Obama clear lead for victory in the Democratic presidential campaign on June 3rd, James Carville said he is ready to open up his wallet to help Obama build a political warchest to take on John McCain in November.

[edit] Writings and other information

Carville is also a best-selling author and co-author. With his wife, Republican Mary Matalin, and writer Peter Knobler, Carville co-wrote All's Fair: Love, War and Running for President. Later he wrote: We're Right, They're Wrong: A Handbook for Spirited Progressives, The Horse He Rode In On: The People vs. Kenneth Starr and Stickin. Suck Up, Buck Up... and Come Back When You Foul Up, Carville's co-written book with Paul Begala, details strategies for fighting and winning in business, politics, and life. In 2004 , Carville released a political banter book entitled Had Enough?, as well as a children's picture book, Lu and the Swamp Ghost (with co-author Patricia C. McKissack and illustrator David Catrow). In January 2006, he released another book co-written with Begala, entitled Take It Back: Our Party, Our Country, Our Future. He enjoys including favorite recipes in his books. Carville now lives in New Orleans with his wife and two daughters.

[edit] Film and television appearances

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Carville and Keith Ellison in 2007
Carville and Keith Ellison in 2007
  • Carville takes a lead role in The War Room, a documentary about Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign, together with George Stephanopoulos.
  • He debated Adam Sandler in the movie "Billy Madison."
  • He appeared in the 1996 film The People vs. Larry Flynt as attorney Simon Leis.
  • In the film Old School, Carville makes a cameo appearing as himself, brought in as a ringer at a college-level debate society meeting. Will Ferrell then inexplicably gives a complex answer regarding US biotechnology policy. When it comes to Carville's rebuttal, he only says, "...We...(stumbles) have no response. That was perfect...."
  • In the film Wedding Crashers, Carville makes a cameo appearance alongside Senator John McCain of Arizona.
  • Carville appears as the Governor of Missouri, Thomas Crittenden, in the 2007 movie The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.
  • He was in a Coca-Cola ad during Super Bowl XLII in 2008, with former Republican Senator Bill Frist.
  • He made a cameo appearing as himself in NBC's comedy 30 Rock, season 2 episode 8.
  • Appeared in cartoon form in Season 2, Episode 10 of the Family Guy "Running mates". Carville was introduced as the ragin' cajun and was trying to save Peter Griffin's career as school president.

[edit] Quotations

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
  • "Republicans now have their own network on Fox, so guys who don't like to answer questions, like Trent Lott, have a place to go to hit softballs."
  • "Pennsylvania is Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with Alabama in between."
  • "But one of Clinton's problems was, the interest groups don't care about the working poor. The Republicans don't care about the working poor — they don't know any. The Op-Ed writers don't care about the working poor. The editorial writers don't care about the working poor. The talking heads don't care about the working poor."

[edit] Further reading

[edit] See also

United States Marine Corps Portal

[edit] References

  1. ^ James Carville Deposition section 3
  2. ^ Salon | The Columnists
  3. ^ a b Carville, James; Mary Matalin; Federal News Service (transcript) (2007-03-27). "CEA Washington Forum" (.doc)., Washington, D.C.: Consumer Electronics Association. Retrieved on 2008-04-01. 
  4. ^ Argetsinger, Amy; Roxanne Roberts. "His Family Is Following the Ragin' Cajun Home", The Reliable Source, The Washington Post, 2008-03-27, pp. C03. Retrieved on 2008-04-01. 
  5. ^ Hotline On Call: Carville's Truce?
  6. ^ James Carville: Al Gore Will Run in 2008
  7. ^ Adam Nagourney and Jeff Zeleny, "First a Tense Talk With Clinton, Then Richardson Backs Obama", The New York Times, March 22, 2008.
  8. ^ CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time Blog Archive - Richardson: Obama’s speech was decisive « - Blogs from CNN.com
  9. ^ Carville Stands By Judas Remark - The Caucus - Politics - New York Times Blog
  10. ^ Sinderbrand, Rebecca. "Carville: Controversial Judas comment 'had the desired effect'", CNN Political Ticker, CNNPolitics.com, 2008-03-25. Retrieved on 2008-04-01. 
  11. ^ CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time Blog Archive - Carville: Obama likely to win nomination « - Blogs from CNN.com
  12. ^ Adam Cohen. ""Will she have her day in court?"", Time (magazine), 1997-01-20. Retrieved on 2008-01-21. 

[edit] External links

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