Carville, Begala fundraising for Kim

Former Bill Clinton advisors turned almost-legendary political strategists James Carville and Paul Begala air fundraising for Andy Kim.

“Will Andy’s grassroots, people-powered movement beat the dark-money, special interest groups that MacArthur’s got in his corner?” Carville said in a fundraising email. “That’s up to you.”

Before he worked for the former president, Carville ran Sen. Frank Lautenberg’s 1988 reelection campaign against Gen. Pete Dawkins, a former Heisman Trophy winner.

That race became was as one of New Jersey’s nastiest campaigns, at least by the standards at the time, and the two candidates frequently exchanged televised barbs not too different in tone from those being thrown in this year’s race between Sen. Bob Menendez and former Celgene CEO Bob Hugin.

Lautenberg’s camp called Dawkins a carpetbagger using the state as a political stepping stone, while Dawkins’ campaign called Lautenberg corrupt.

Carville’s team came out on top in that race, winning an 8-point victory over Dawkins, who was something of a golden boy at the time.

This year’s race in the third congressional district promises to be closer than that contest. Recent polls have pegged Rep. Tom MacArthur’s reelection race as a dead heat. The Real Clear Politics polling average for the district has MacArthur up by a statistically insignificant 0.3 points.