Communication Students Land 'rajun Cajun,' Carville to Speak At May 16 Ceremony

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Chelsea Clinton may have selected Stanford, but one of her father's top political advisors, credited with helping him win the White House in 1992, has opted to come to the University at Buffalo.

James Carville, considered by many to be the country's best-known and most colorful political consultant, will be at UB on Friday, May 16, as the featured speaker for the Department of Communication Recognition Ceremony at 4:30 p.m. in Slee Hall on the North (Amherst) Campus. The program will not be open to the public. (See information about press conference at end of this news release.)

Carville will be at UB because of the determination of graduating seniors majoring in communication to have a nationally recognized speaker for their ceremony.

Landing the "Rajun Cajun" for the program were Matthew Pillar, president of the Communication Undergraduate Student Association, and Jamie Kurzeja, coordinator of the recognition ceremony. Also instrumental in the effort was Gerald M. Goldhaber, Ph.D., associate professor of communication and owner of Goldhaber Research Associates.

Carville's work as a campaign manager dates back to when he was in high school and canvassed for a car dealer running for the Louisiana State Legislature.

He entered Louisiana State University in 1962 and, as his biographical sketch notes with the comment "not to put a spin on it", "Šflunked out four years later." He subsequently returned to Louisiana State -- after two years in the Marine Corps that his resumé says was "to assuage his Catholic guilt" -- and later earned a law degree from LSU.

Carville teamed up in 1989 with Paul Begala to form the Carville & Begala political consulting firm, which lists Bill Clinton's election to the presidency in 1992 as its biggest win.

He is married to Mary Matalin, deputy campaign manager of George Bush's unsuccessful re-election bid in 1992 and with whom he co-authored the best-selling political memoir, "All's Fair: Love, War and Running for President."

Carville has served as an advisor on several gubernatorial and Senate campaigns -- not all of them successful -- and has been a political advisor to Greek Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis.

His second book, "We're Right, They're Wrong, A Handbook for Spirited Progressives," is a no-nonsense guide to the "real meaning and consequences" of the current Republican agenda and hit No. 1 on The New York Times best-seller list in March.

In his latest venture, Carville has formed the Education and Information Project, which according to him, is conducting "an education campaign to inform the American people about the partisan activities" of Whitewater investigator Kenneth Starr and to provide Bill Clinton with a "vigorous defense that the President deserves."