Paul Begala (born May 12, 1961) was an advisor to President Bill Clinton. He gained national prominence as half of the political consulting team Carville and Begala. He is currently a co-host of CNN's Crossfire and is Research Professor of Public Policy at Georgetown University Public Policy Institute.

Paul Begala burst onto the political scene when he, along with partner James Carville, helped elect then-governor of Arkansas Clinton to the presidency in 1992. After working on Clinton's campaign, Begala served as a consultant to the President. As an aide to the President, Paul helped defend the Clinton-Gore agenda and served as a public spokesperson.

Aside from the 1992 presidential election, Begala and Carville have had other well-known political victories which include the 1991 Senate victory of Harris Wofford, the 1990 gubernatorial victories of Zell Miller and Robert Casey and the 1998 re-election campaign of incumbent Senator Frank Lautenberg.

Before becoming a co-host of Crossfire, Begala co-hosted a show, Equal Time, with Oliver North on MSNBC. He also was a contributor to John F. Kennedy Jr.'s political magazine George in the late 1990's.

Begala is a devout Roman Catholic. He is personally opposed to abortion and calls on fellow Catholics to be consistently "pro-life" - in opposition to not only abortion, but war, the death penalty, and lack of health care.

As an author and co-author, Begala has written a handful of best selling political books. His writings include: Is Our Children Learning?: The Case Against George W. Bush, Buck Up, Suck Up and Come Back When You Foul Up, and It's Still the Economy Stupid.

Begala has been parodied on Saturday Night Live in an on-going skit of Hardball with Chris Matthews (Begala has been a repeated guest of that show in real life). Andrew Sullivan also gives out a Begala Award for (what Sullivan deems as) extreme liberal hyperbole.

Begala was born in New Jersey and raised in Texas. He earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Texas, where he taught briefly before going to work for President Clinton.