Carville is a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity. He later worked as a junior high school science teacher. Before entering politics, Carville worked as a litigator at McKernnan, Beychok, Screen and Pierson, a Baton Rouge law firm, from 1973 to 1979. Carville was trained in consulting by Gus Weill, who in 1958 had opened the first advertising firm which specialized in political campaigns in the state capital in Baton Rouge. In 1984, Carville managed then Texas state legislator Lloyd Doggett's unsuccessful  US Senate campaign for the open Texas Senate seat. Finding himself out of work after the defeat, Carville recalled, "I was scared to death, I was 40 years old, and didn't have any health insurance, I didn't have any money, I was mortified." Prior to the Clinton campaign, Carville and consulting partner Paul Begala gained other well-known political victories, including the gubernatorial triumphs of Robert Casey of Pennsylvania in 1986, and Zell Miller of Georgia in 1990, and Brereton Jones of Kentucky in 1991. But it was in 1991 when Carville and Begala rose to national attention, leading appointed incumbent Senator Harris Wofford of Pennsylvania back from a 40-point poll deficit over White House hand-picked candidate Dick Thornburgh. It was during Wofford's campaign that the "it's the economy, stupid" strategy used by Bill Clinton in 1992 was first implemented. In 1992, Carville helped lead Bill Clinton to a win against George H. W. Bush in the presidential election. In an October 1992 interview televised on Louisiana Public Broadcasting's "Louisiana Legends" with Political Consultant Gus Weill, Carville spoke on the campaign crisis of Gennifer Flowers' allegations of an extramaritial sexual affair with Bill Clinton which emerged shortly before the 1992 New Hampshire Democratic primary. Carville remarked that Flowers "was paid $175,000 by a supermarket tabloid for sharing her story" and that "the mainstream media got sucker-punched" by her allegations. Carville set out to shame the press, berating reporters with charges of "cash for trash" journalism, and added: "I'm a lot more expensive than Gennifer Flowers." One of the formulations he used in that campaign has entered common usage, derived from a list he posted in the campaign war room to help focus himself and his staff, with these three points:   In 1993, Carville was honored as Campaign District Manager of the Year by the American Association of Political Consultants.