PERSON: Paul Begala

Professor

As a former top-ranking White House official, a University professor, a political consultant and a corporate communications strategist, Paul Begala has spent his career at the intersection of politics, policy, and press.

As Counselor to President Clinton, Mr. Begala helped define and defend the Administration’s agenda. One of the President’s closest advisors, he was also one of the Administration’s principal public spokesman.

As a campaign consultant, Mr. Begala was half of the legendary team of Carville and Begala. As such he was a senior strategist for the Clinton-Gore Presidential Campaign in 1992. He and James Carville also helped direct the political strategy of numerous other successful campaigns, including Senators Harris Wofford, Frank Lautenberg, and Dianne Feinstein, and Governors Zell Miller, Bob Casey and Wallace Wilkinson.

Mr. Begala’s experience in corporate communications included having served as Senior Vice President of the communications strategy firm Public Strategies, Inc. where his clients included such industry leaders as Coca-Cola and Southwest Airlines.

Mr. Begala is currently Research Professor of Government at Georgetown University, and is a Contributing Editor for George, John F. Kennedy’s, Jr.’s Political magazine. He is also a political analyst and commentator for CNN.

Mr. Begala has lectured widely, including at Oxford University, the University of Georgia, UCLA, and participated in symposia at Harvard, Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania. He also taught at the University of Texas before leaving Texas to serve in the White House. A frequent guest on the national news programs, Mr. Begala has appeared on Meet the Press, Larry King Live, Nightline, Face the Nation, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, This Week with Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts and Imus in the Morning.

Mr. Begala earned both his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Texas, where was elected Student Body President.

— explore.georgetown.edu/