Gwinnett Daily Post

The 2008 election season ended earlier this month with the U.S. Senate runoff (or maybe with Monday's Norcross runoff recount).

But the next political debate is already set.

The Ragin' Cajun and his conservative counterpart - James Carville and wife Mary Matalin - will headline the Gwinnett Medical Center Foundation Cornerstone Society Donor Appreciation Gala.

The black-tie event will be held Feb. 28 in Lawrenceville, and the opportunity to meet one of the masterminds of Bill Clinton's election is invitation-only, for those who join the Cornerstone Society by Dec. 31.

Carville, who was born at Georgia's Fort Benning, has spent the past several years as a pundit and media personality after spending his career as an attorney and political consultant.

He's known for getting Democrats elected, including heading Zell Miller's gubernatorial campaign, but he married his political rival during the 1992 campaign, Matalin, who worked for George H.W. Bush and later worked for Vice President Dick Cheney.

The couple, who live in New Orleans and have two children, worked professing opposite sides on CNN's Crossfire and on other television programs.

After 2008 saw Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin and some other political heavyweights come to Gwinnett and even Barack Obama, John McCain and Bill Clinton to metro Atlanta, Carville and Matalin might be the most well-known political figures to head this way in 2009.

Political Notebook appears in the Thursday and Sunday editions of the Gwinnett Daily Post.

Camie Young can be reached via e-mail at camie.young@gwinnettdailypost.com.