  Fifteen years after they took us behind the scenes of Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign in The War Room, award-winning filmmakers Chris Hegedus and D A Pennebaker revisit the world of presidential campaigning in their new documentary The Return of the War Room. A Sundance Channel original production, The Return of the War Room gathers together the major players from the original film - including such now-famous faces as James Carville, George Stephanopoulos, Mary Matalin, Paul Begala and Dee Dee Myers—to look back at a campaign organization that changed the way races are run. As these and other political insiders recall the rollercoaster days of 1992, The Return of the War Room explores how the political process and media culture have changed since Clinton took office. The result is an entertaining, thought-provoking look at the American election cycle, then and now. The Return of the War Room interweaves footage from The War Room with new interviews to examine how the Clinton campaign crew piloted its candidate to victory. Leading the largely youthful, highly motivated staff were two men: the colorfully outspoken Carville, a veteran campaign consultant known as the “Ragin’ Cajun;” and the energetic, boyishly handsome Stephanopoulos, the Director of Communications. In attempting to elect the first Democratic president since Jimmy Carter, the Clinton camp was determined to be aggressive and never allow an attack to go unanswered. They sharply defined the campaign’s key themes, encapsulated in rallying cries—like Carville’s “it’s the economy stupid” - that resonated across the political landscape. They jettisoned traditional organizational hierarchies in favor of an all-hands-in command center, where information was shared, analyzed, managed and massaged. And they signaled their battle-readiness to the public in general, and the Republican opposition in particular, by dubbing their strategy headquarters “the war room.”
The Return of the War Room begins its portrait of the Clinton campaign with the New Hampshire primary, and the back-to-back allegations that threatened to quash the Arkansas governor’s presidential bid. An unusual election season grew stranger still with the sudden emergence of Texas billionaire Ross Perot as a third party candidate. With his folksy delivery and fondness for bizarre analogies, Perot tapped into public dissatisfaction with Washington and, at one point, led Clinton and incumbent President George H.W. Bush in national polls. Meanwhile, personal dramas were playing out in the lives of Clinton staffers - not the least of which was Carville’s romantic relationship with his political opposite, Mary Matalin, the irreverent, take-no-prisoners, Republican who served as Bush’s Deputy Campaign Manager for Political Operations.
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By the time Clinton was officially nominated at the July Democratic Convention, it was clear an extremely disciplined approach was required for the national election. The campaign established its headquarters in Little Rock, Arkansas, far from the clubby atmosphere and numerous distractions of Washington, D.C. There, the denizens of the war room focused relentlessly, and successfully, on the task at hand. As Hegedus and Pennebaker track the progress of the Clinton campaign, the War Room alumni, including the ever-entertaining Matalin, offer the intimate perspectives only they can give. With candor, humor and warmth, the members of Team Clinton share stories about what it was like to be at the center of events, experiencing highs and lows while forging enduring relationships with one another and with the Clintons. Juxtaposed with their accounts are fascinating glimpses of their lives today, from Carville and Matalin, throwing a surprise birthday party for their daughter; to Paul Begala, a quiet presence in 1992, cheering from the stands at his son’s Little League game.
In the aftermath of Clinton’s victory, the war room would become a staple of political campaigns around the world. But how have the lessons of the Clinton war room translated to a 21st Century landscape of Blackberries, blogs, compressible digital video, YouTube, and independently financed partisan political groups? Expanding its scope to recent presidential races, The Return of the War Room considers how campaigning has changed since 1992 - and what those changes have meant for such candidates as John Kerry, Barack Obama, John McCain, Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney. Joining the returning cast of The War Room for this discussion are several political professionals with their own experience of modern campaigning, including Republican consultant Frank Luntz, who worked as Ross Perot’s pollster in the 1992 campaign; Mark McKinnon, the former Media Advisor for John McCain’s 2008 campaign and the Media Director for the Bush 2000 and 2004 campaigns; and Kevin Madden, press secretary for the ‘08 Romney campaign.
A film by Chris Hegedus & D A Pennebaker
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