Longtime Clinton political operative James Carville appears regularly on CNN to make the case for his candidate, arguing why the race is not over, how she can still win, and of course, famously calling newly-minted Obama endorser and superdelegate Gov. Bill Richardson, a "Judas".
But in the meantime, the $3.9 million DC-area home he shares with his wife, GOP-insider and former Darth Cheney counselor Mary Matalin, is on the market.
h/t lgcap
What's up with that? (More under the fold)
Even if nobody steps up with the $4.5 million asking price, or at least an acceptable offer, it won’t matter because the Carville-Matalin's have already bought a house near Carville family in New Orleans.
Why now, in the middle of the Most Exciting Presidential Campaign Evah? The kids.
Their two daughters are about to enter fifth and eighth grade, Matalin said, which in Louisiana mark the start of middle school and high school. It was just the right time.
We all know about the overused and completely unconvincing "spending more time with the family" excuse, but in this case I am completely willing to take their explanation at face value. Those are difficult ages for kids socially, and while moving is always disruptive, it’s certainly preferable to avoid plopping them into a new middle school or high school when the year has already started, and friendship groups have already formed.
Carville and Matalin didn’t get to be "the quintessential Beltway power couple" by taking wild guesses. Do they already know chances are slim that either one of them will have a connection to the new occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania?
A quote in the article certainly makes it sound like they aren't expecting any kind of White House-related employment in the near future:
But they do plan to keep a base in Alexandria, [Matalin] said. "We've got a lot of friends and history and current things we're going to continue doing here" -- their consulting work, her board seats, [Carville's] CNN gig. "We'll just have dual visas."
Have they decided there’s no point in waiting for this thing to finally become final in June, or by July 1, or in Denver in August, because the only thing that will change, is the amount of upheaval and pain the move will cause their girls?
If so, good for them. Good for putting their family ahead of politics. I sincerely wish them nothing but the best in their new home.
Maybe worried Obama supporters can take a little comfort from what this development might portend. But not too much comfort. Mary Matalin's political crystal ball has had a couple of big hiccups lately; she worked for Sen. George Allen’s 2006 Senate re-election campaign in a move designed to help set him up for an ’08 presidential bid. When Allen’s "Macaca Moment" sent that plan down the tubes, she eventually cast her lot with Fabulous Fred. Maybe they decided they just don't want to take any chance at all on a three-peat and just get the heck out there regardless, so their girls can grow up in a place that's a little more normal.
At any rate, as TocqueDeville pointed out earlier today, this is not over.