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James Carville, the country's best known and most colorful political consultant,is married to Mary Matalin, the deputy campaign manager of George Bush's re-election bid, and now host of CNBC's nightly political talk show "Equal Time" and the daily CBS radio program "The Mary Matalin Show." The couple co-wrote All's Fair: Love, War, and Running for President (Simon & Schuster/ Random House, 1994), one of the best selling campaign memoirs in American history. They had their first child, Matalin Mary Carville, last summer.

Carville managed his first campaign, a U.S. Senate race in Virginia, in 1982. The following year, while managing Lloyd Doggett's unsuccessful bid for governor of Texas, he acquired the nickname "Ragin' Cajun" and began his odd-couple professional collaboration with Paul Begala, who had just graduated from the University of Texas. The two teamed up full time in 1989 and formed the Carville & Begala political consulting firm, specializing in strategy, message development, "earned media," and, above all, winning elections for Democrats.

Carville and Begala's biggest win was Bill Clinton's election to the presidency in 1992, the first time a Democrat had claimed the White House in 12 years. In 1993 Carville was honored as the Campaign Manager of the Year by the American Association of Political Consultants for his leadership of Clinton's fearsome and intense Little Rock campaign headquarters, known as the "War Room." This role also made him the focus, along with George Stephanopoulos, of the feature-length documentary film "The War Room," an Academy Award nominee. He is currently serving as a Senior Political Advisor to the President.

For more information check out Who is this Carville Character?