For the fourth year in a row, married political strategists James Carville and Mary Matalin will bring Washington to New Orleans a week after Election Day for a conference held in conjunction with the Bipartisan Policy Center.
To get people excited, earlier this week the couple hosted an off-the-record conference kick-off party at their Alexandria townhouse. The party attracted a number of names including Democratic operative Kiki McLean, Democratic strategist Steve McMahon, AOL founder Steve Case, former Sen. Pete Domenici, former Sen. Chuck Robb, Republican operative Maria Cino and the National Journal’s Ron Brownstein.
We followed up with Bipartisan Policy Center head Jason Grumet on Wednesday to find out what the couple, and the center, have in store for their guests who travel to Louisiana. “The essential part of this exercise is to bring together proud, pragmatic, partisans to talk about the politics of the possible,” Grumet told Yeas & Nays. “Coming off what we know will be a bitterly contested election with lots of aggressive rhetoric from all sides, we want to come together to accelerate the process of politicking to governing.”
Besides all the wonky talk, the trip to NOLA will be fun too, with the BPC planning to crown “the world’s greatest political strategist” (with a trophy!) and there will be a party at the Carville-Matalin’s home. “What’s terrific about working with James and Mary —there is nothing soft headed or quaint or accommodating about either of them,” Grumet said. “They are two of the [most] edgy, passionate and constructive people, who speak from a very full voice from different ideologies.”
BPC’s Annual Political Summit in New Orleans will take place November 14-16.
