2010: Carville Protege Joins Team White

Chad Clanton, a Waco-born Democratic consultant and well-known protege of James Carville, has joined the Bill White gubernatorial campaign to "work on a variety of projects ... on multiple media channels," says White spokeswoman Katy Bacon. Clanton's resume is long: He led the re-election campaign of U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in Florida, served as senior communications adviser in the Kerry-Edwards campaign and worked on the failed New York City mayoral bid of Fernando Ferrer. The former Public Strategies consultant also served as spokesman for U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu in Louisiana. From a 2005 New York Times feature of Clanton:

Politics and Dr Pepper go back a long way with Mr. Clanton. He conducted his first poll in the fourth grade, canvassing fellow students on their preference between Reagan and Carter. A precocious passion became a career choice after he took a course on the interplay of politics and the news media from Paul Begala at the University of Texas. Mr. Clanton received his undergraduate and graduate degrees, the latter in public policy, at the Austin campus.

"The intersection of politics and the press is maybe the most vital part of a democracy, and I tried to get myself in the middle of it," he says. "Didn't know what a War Room was, but knew I wanted to work in one."

Clanton's not the only new addition. His business partner, Mike Donilon, veteran of the 1992 Clinton/Gore media team, was hired along with Clanton to join Team White this month.