Carville and Matalin to Pen Joint Memoir

In a unique co-venture, two New York publishing rivals announced Monday they will print the joint presidential election memoir of Clinton strategist James Carville and Bush adviser Mary Matalin, close companions away from the campaign trail.

“The Hatfields and the McCoys are publishing Capulet and Montague,” said Robert Barnett, the Washington lawyer who orchestrated the book auction for the couple which resulted, sources said, in a sale in the $1-million range.

Arch rivals Simon & Schuster and Random House teamed together to acquire world publishing rights for both the hardcover and paperback editions of the book, which will appear in the spring of 1994.

“You’ve got a Tracy and Hepburn movie going on here . . . they have a lot to say,” said David Rosenthal, executive editor of Random House, who will jointly edit the memoir with Alice E. Mayhew, editorial director of Simon & Schuster.

“This is better than any campaign,” the pair said of the book deal, in a prepared statement. “There are two winners.”

During the tough and at times bitter presidential campaign, Carville, a 49-year-old Cajun and Matalin, a 38-year-old former homecoming queen who once worked in Chicago’s steel mills, acted not only as key strategists but as lightning rods for their candidates.

Matalin, a protege of the late Lee Atwater, Bush’s 1988 campaign manager, served as the President’s deputy campaign manager for political operations. Carville, who played a major role in shaping the the Clinton campaign, earlier had managed Democratic Sen. Harris Wofford’s victory in Pennsylvania over former Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh, a Bush ally.

Adding extra spice, in January 1991, Matalin and Carville began a relationship.

Matalin offered to resign her GOP post, but Republican Chairman Clayton K. Yeutter said that it wasn’t necessary. Instead, Matalin decided that for the course of the campaign she and Carville would “suspend” their relationship until after the election.

Right after the election, they set off for Venice together.

In an era when TV talk show appearances are counted on to sell books, Carville and Matalin are considered naturals by their joint publishers. Both are outspoken, salty, and very knowledgeable political trench warriors.

Carville is a skilled storyteller who cultivates a country boy image, but nevertheless proved he had his finger on the pulse of the electorate. On the campaign trail, he became famous for not changing his clothes--including his underwear--for days while on a winning streak.

Matalin was the author of slashing campaign attacks against candidate Clinton--including a reference to allegations of infidelity, for which she issued an apology at the personal request of President Bush. Like Carville, she is praised for her earthy grasp of presidential politics.

The campaign rivals and close companions submitted a 10-page proposal to publishers explaining how they would write the book. Their collaborator is still is to be chosen.

Carville and Matalin’s memoir not only will discuss how political strategy is decided in the pressure cooker of opposing presidential campaigns. It will reflect how the couple walked the tightrope of love and political rivalry.