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Opposites attract, even in politics
By LINDA GIBSON © St. Petersburg Times, published September 15, 2000 TAMPA -- James Carville and Mary Matalin, the odd couple of politics, bring their conflicting opinions Monday to the University of South Florida as part of the school's annual lecture series. If the Neil Simon play had been based on Carville and Matalin, he would have been the model for Oscar, she for Felix. He is a liberal, she's a conservative. They gained fame in 1992 as dueling campaign managers -- he for President Clinton, she for former President George Bush. After battling each other through the 1992 presidential campaign, they married on Thanksgiving in 1993. Their liaison inspired a Hollywood movie (Speechless) and a book. All's Fair: Love, War, and Running for President, published in 1994, is part romance and part campaign analysis written from their opposing viewpoints. Since then, Carville went on to help manage the 1999 campaign of Israeli Labor Party candidate Ehud Barak against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the Likud Party. Barak won. Matalin co-hosted a three-hour afternoon talk-radio program on CBS and is a co-host of CNN's Crossfire program. Their appearance at USF is part of the fall lecture series, and their fee of $38,000 consumed a big chunk of the $107,000 budget for speakers in this fall's series. Laurie Woodward, chairwoman of the committee that chooses speakers for the series, says the committee believed the expense to be worthwhile. "We think it's important for students to be involved in the political process," she said. Political science professors at USF are requiring their students to attend the Carville/Matalin lecture, she said. Student political groups including the Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, Greens and student government, plan to set up tables just outside the lecture auditorium, which holds up to 2,000. Susan MacManus, professor of political science and public administration, will act as moderator. Carville and Matalin each will get 20 minutes to speak, then MacManus will present them with a question. Audience members also will get a chance to question them. All lectures in the fall series are free and open to the public. The Carver/Matalin lecture will begin at 7 p.m. in the Special Events Center. Woodward said visitors to the campus should stop first at the visitors center and get a parking permit. Other lectures scheduled for this fall include: The Honorable Rex Nettleford, vice chancellor at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica, who will speak about racial, ethnic and class diversity in the Caribbean; 7:30 p.m. Sept. 27 at University Lecture Hall. Daniel Chumley, who helped originate street theater performances in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district in the 1960s and teaches characterization to animators at Disney and Dreamworks studios, will talk about populist theater; 7 p.m. Sept. 28 at Theatre I. Mel Chin, an environmental artist, will speak on alternative contexts for art in the 21st century; 2 p.m. Sept. 29 at the Marshall Center, Rooms 269, 270 and 271. Adrian Piper, a conceptual artist, will speak about racism, racial stereotyping and xenophobia in art; 2 p.m. Oct. 6 at the Marshall Center, Rooms 269, 270 and 271. Luis Remesar, a Cuban-American filmmaker, will present his film of his return to Cuba and discuss the technology used to make it; 7 p.m. Oct. 19 at Cooper Hall 103. Edward Ruscha, an artist and draftsman who has used organic materials ranging from cherry pie filling to Pepto-Bismol in place of ink; 7 p.m. Oct. 27 at Cooper Hall 103. William E. Schmidt, associate managing editor of the New York Times, who will talk about his experience as a foreign correspondent in the Middle East, the former USSR and Europe; Nov. 1, 2 p.m. at the Marshall Center ballroom. For more information, check the lecture series Web site at ctr.usf.edu/uls/2000, or call (813) 974-7795. -- Linda Gibson can be reached at (813) 226-3382 or gibson@sptimes.com.
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