Lost it all, came back stronger

Just a dozen cool stories worth knowing. Also, 7 other things worth your time.

In 1982, political consultant James Carville was flat broke with no prospects: $47 to his name, of which $41 was going to a hotel for the night outside DC. At 38, he thought his career was over.

Then, his suitcase broke in the middle of a downpour, sending “all of my possessions … straight into the mud.” Here’s what he said happened, in the 1995 book he wrote with his wife, Mary Matalin:

“I found a phone booth, and standing in the rain, called a good friend of mine named Jim D’Spain in Baton Rouge. I said, ‘Jim, this is the most embarrassing thing I have ever had to do in my life, but I’m at the end of my rope. I can’t … I’m basically scraping money together for a train ticket to Richmond. Can you send me some money?”

As Carville tells the tale, D’Spain sent him $5,000 via Western Union, and Carville stretched it through a couple more underdog campaigns before signing on with a complete long-shot for the 1992 Democratic nomination for president, Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton.

I kind of hate…