GOP’s Attack-Faxer One of New Breed of Political Operatives : Fast thinking and blunt spoken, they often eclipse candidates. Matalin has ties to Clinton camp counterpart.

In bygone days politicians regularly wrote their own speeches and slung their own mud. But the 1992 presidential campaign is far removed from that simpler era--and just how far was demonstrated this week by the case of Mary Matalin, deputy manager of President Bush’s beleaguered reelection campaign.

Fast thinking and blunt spoken, the 38-year-old Matalin is a member of the growing breed of political operatives who have taken over so many campaign responsibilities that they sometimes seem to eclipse their own candidates.

That is what happened when Matalin--in a few not-so-well-chosen words--stirred a public furor that reminded voters of the allegations of infidelity that had plagued the early campaign of Democratic standard-bearer Bill Clinton. She then issued a grudging apology at the personal request of the President.

In a mock campaign quiz distributed to the press, Matalin included this question: “Which campaign had to spend thousands of taxpayer dollars on private investigators to fend off ‘bimbo eruptions’?”--a reference to the Clinton campaign’s early effort to stifle rumors about alleged instances of the Arkansas governor’s infidelity.

That thrust was in keeping with Matalin’s feisty character. In the councils of what many Republicans feel has been an excessively subdued campaign, her deep, raspy voice has often been the most aggressive.

But what added a soap opera-like aspect to the episode is Matalin’s 18-month involvement with her approximate counterpart in the Clinton campaign, James Carville, a craggy-faced 49-year-old Cajun with a reputation for political gut fighting that comes close to matching that of Matalin’s own mentor, the late Lee Atwater.

Matalin’s relationship with Carville has long been controversial within Republican circles. Then-White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu called Matalin on the carpet over it last fall. At the time, she was chief of staff to the Republican National Committee and Carville was running Harris Wofford’s successful U.S. Senate campaign against former Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh.

Last December, when Matalin moved over to the Bush campaign and Carville joined the Clinton team, Matalin said publicly that they were putting the relationship on hold until after the election. But she has made no secret to friends that the relationship has continued.

Not surprisingly then, the “bimbo blowup” created an awkward situation for Carville. Indeed, as Carville sought to play his accustomed role for Clinton of counter-attacker-in-chief against opposition charges, it almost seemed as if he was as much on the spot as Matalin.

Carville sought to shift the focus of attack from his candidate to the opposition, questioning Bush’s claim that he had issued an edict commanding his campaign staff to avoid “sleaze.”

“The President said he put out a written statement against this (form of campaign literature),” Carville said, his eyes flashing. “Where is the written statement? Who got the written statement? What did it say? Who did it apply to?”

But the usually self-assured Carville seemed uncommonly uncomfortable, as the questions from the press corps kept turning back to Matalin, who was the direct cause of the controversy.

“I don’t want to get into a thing of defending Mary,” he said. “That’s not what this is about. This is about George Bush saying he put out a written statement. Where is his written statement?”

The flare-up clearly tangled the ties between the two, but the political impact was harder to assess. Some Republican critics of the Bush campaign called it another example of the clumsiness that has hindered the President from developing a message to counter Clinton’s post-convention surge in the polls.

“We needed a big day and we managed to blow it again,” said one Bush aide, vexed because the Matalin-Carville-bimbo story had overshadowed accounts of one of the first successful rallies of the Bush campaign in Jacksonville, Fla.

But some Democrats felt it was Clinton who suffered the most damage because the flap over Matalin’s attack could revive questions of trust and character that hobbled him in the primaries.

“She got the words ‘bimbo eruption’ and Bill Clinton on TV,” said one Democratic strategist, “and Bush was able to stay at arm’s length. I think the press could end up helping Bush because the press thinks Americans want to tut-tut this stuff. . . . The Republicans are just trying to get a different conversation started about Clinton, and they did that.”

But whatever the ultimate impact on the struggle for the White House, the incident made for the most memorable moment in Matalin’s political career. It began in 1981, when she joined the Republican National Committee’s voter education operation, and did not really go anywhere until she joined Bush’s 1988 drive for the GOP nomination and came under the wing of campaign manager Atwater. He made her Midwest field coordinator, and after the campaign when he became GOP national chairman he selected her as his chief of staff.

Within the Bush campaign, some of whose leaders still seem preoccupied with their outside business interests, Matalin stands out for her intensity and her street-wise grasp of presidential politics.

Other Bush strategists, including senior adviser Charles Black and campaign manager Frederic V. Malek, are put forth more often to present the candidate’s position on television. But officials say that Matalin in fact has become the top deputy to campaign manager Robert M. Teeter.

Colleagues say she has appeared increasingly frustrated in recent weeks as the campaign has been unable to decide how it might restore Bush’s standing.

“It seemed like, all the boys at the top couldn’t make up their minds, and Mary just wanted to show them that a girl could do it better,” one campaign official said. Matalin was authorized to launch the operation of faxing press releases that attacked Clinton on a new issue each day, keying on the Democrats’ alleged “hypocrisy” for complaining about negative GOP campaigning despite the frequent attacks Democrats have made on Bush.

But the operation was only a few days old when Matalin, working on a Sunday and without seeking approval from Teeter or Malek, issued the release that at least for one day threw the presidential campaign--and perhaps her own personal life--into turmoil.

At a senior staff meeting Monday, campaign officials were said to have loyally defended Matalin--in what one source called a sign of respect. Even after Bush disavowed her statement, senior officials pointed out what they said had been her intent--to highlight the attacks Democrats have already made on Bush.

Last week, Matalin had sat aboard Air Force One as the President traveled to Texas and then on to California, helping to rework a Bush speech to include sharper attacks on Clinton for the defense-spending cuts he has proposed.

But on Monday, it was Bush who was calling Matalin to demand that she apologize for the memorandum. And on Monday evening, an aide who usually works with Matalin late into the night had unusual news for a reporter who called. Matalin, he said, had gone home. But she did not waste much time brooding.

On Tuesday, she was back on duty, attending the weekly meeting at the White House aimed at finally getting Bush’s reelection campaign on track.

Times staff writers Thomas Rosenstiel and Sam Fulwood contributed to this story.

The Republicans’ Mary Matalin

Mary Matalin’s bare-knuckled rhetoric caused an uproar in the political world. It also cast a spotlight again on her relationship with Clinton aide James Carville, right. Here is some background on Matalin:

Born: Aug. 19, 1953.

Education: Bachelor’s degree from Western Illinois University; attended Hofstra School of Law

Career highlights: Began political career in 1980, working in Illinois Senate race. Worked in Republican National Committee’s voter education operation in 1981 and spent next several years working various jobs within the organization. In 1988, she was appointed Midwest field coordinator for Bush’s 1988 nomination campaign, where she worked for campaign manager Lee Atwater. Later appointed Atwater’s chief of staff. Currently a deputy campaign manager for Bush/Quayle ’92.

Personal: Divorced, no children. Matalin is in a “suspended” relationship with Bill Clinton’s adviser “ragin’ Cajun” Carville. Matalin, the granddaughter of Croatian immigrants, has been nicknamed “the ragin’ Croatian” for her attacks on the opposition.