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SLA Opening General Session and Awards Presentation
Sunday, 13 June 2010
5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
James Carville is an author, actor, producer, talk-show host, speaker and restaurateur, but he is probably best known as a political consultant, with a knack for steering overlooked campaigns to unexpected landslide victories and propelling political underdogs to upset victories.
Carville's winning streak began in 1986, when he managed the gubernatorial victory of Robert Casey in Pennsylvania. A loser in three previous attempts, Casey defeated popular Lieutenant Governor William Scranton, Jr. in a remarkable come-from-behind win. The following year, Carville helped Wallace Wilkinson, who commanded less than 1 percent of the vote in the early polls, win a hard-fought gubernatorial campaign in Kentucky.
In 1991, Carville earned national attention when he led Harris Wofford from 40 points behind in the polls to an upset Senate victory over former Pennsylvania Governor and U.S. Attorney General Richard Thornburgh. With the startling and unpredicted Wofford win, Carville exposed the potential political vulnerability of George Bush, who enjoyed 91 percent approval ratings during the Gulf War. Having wounded the sitting president, Carville finished the job the following year when he guided Bill Clinton to the White House in 1992.
In 1993, Carville was honored as Campaign Manager of the Year by the American Association of Political Consultants for his leadership of Clinton's "War Room" at campaign headquarters in Little Rock. Carville was also the focus, along with George Stephanopoulos, of the Academy Award-nominated documentary, The War Room.
After Clinton's victory, Carville began to focus on foreign consulting, assisting clients such as Greek Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis, Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, and Argentine Economic Minister Domingo Cavallo. In 1999, Carville helped lead Ehud Barak to victory in his campaign to become the prime minister of Israel.
With co-author and wife Mary Matalin (former assistant to President Bush and counselor to Vice President Cheney), Carville wrote All's Fair: Love, War, and Running for President, which spent eight weeks on The New York Times best-seller list. The book was also named one of the top five best books on public relations by the Wall Street Journal. Carville's other books have included We're Right, They're Wrong: A Handbook for Spirited Progressives; And the Horse He Rode In On: The People vs. Kenneth Starr; a children's book, Lu and the Swamp Ghost; and 40 More Years: How the Democrats Will Rule the Next Generation (2009).
In the fall of 2003, Carville and Matalin put a fresh and critically acclaimed spin on political consulting and on television in the HBO series K Street, a political drama based on the working lives of Washington political consultants. He can be seen regularly on television as a CNN commentator and contributor and hosts XM radio's 60/20 weekly sports show. Carville also co-produced the remake of the 1949 Oscar-winning movie All The King's Men with a cast that included Sean Penn, Anthony Hopkins, Jude Law, Patricia Clarkson, Kate Winslet, and James Gandolfini.
Carville resides in New Orleans with his wife and two daughters.
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