Larry McCarthy is a writer, communications consultant and president of McCarthy Marcus Hennings.
In 2005 and 2006, McCarthy created national TV ad campaigns supporting the confirmations of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito. McCarthy also created a multi-market statewide campaign for California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s bipartisan “Let’s Rebuild California” bond initiative. All five of the bond propositions won on Election Day.
McCarthy also created numerous print and radio ads pushing deployment of Verizon’s FiOS high-speed Internet and TV service in 2005-2006.
In 2004, McCarthy produced the most widely acclaimed ad of the year – “Ashley’s Story,” for Progress for America Voter Fund, the largest 527. The ad was seen in 10 states and on national cable. More money was put behind “Ashley’s Story” (more than $16 million) than any other ad in American political history, and Advertising Age named “Ashley’s Story” one of the top ten ads of the year, the only political ad so honored.
McCarthy also helped guide Senator Lisa Murkowski to a come-from-behind victory in Alaska in 2004, as well helping Tom Latham, Anne Northup and Jim Nussle to Congressional victories. And in 2003, McCarthy directed media campaigns for the Republican Governors Association in California and Kentucky.
McCarthy helped lead Susan Collins to a win in the U.S. Senate; and helped George Nethercutt, Jim Nussle and Anne Northup to tough re-election wins for the U.S. House in 2002. And in 2000, McCarthy scored a perfect six-for-six with victories for Senator Conrad Burns, Nethercutt, Nussle, Darrell Issa, Northup, and a ballot initiative in Kentucky.
Along with historian Theodore H. White, McCarthy won the 1985 Emmy Award for Best Writing in a Documentary for the two-hour nationally syndicated special "Television and the Presidency." He also wrote the two-hour special "Television: Our Life and Times" with Tony Randall and Jack Paar, and co-wrote a cable television series for Lynn Redgrave.
McCarthy co-wrote and produced "Heinz: The Story of an American Family," a one-hour public broadcasting documentary which aired nationwide in 1993.
Recently, McCarthy has created national issue campaigns for America’s hospitals (Coalition to Protect America’s Health Care), on missile defense (Coalition to Protect Americans Now) and for clients such as the United States Telecom Association, Pew Center on Global Climate Change, Americans Discuss Social Security and Verizon.
McCarthy also served as a media consultant for Senator Pete Wilson's victory in the 1990 California Governor's race, consulted for Senator Bob Dole's 1988 presidential campaign and taught political media as a Fellow at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
From 1981 to 1987, McCarthy was senior vice president of Ailes Communications, a New York political media and television production company. He served as a strategist/writer/producer for many winning statewide campaigns, including Senators Phil Gramm, Warren Rudman, Dan Quayle, Bob Kasten, Mitch McConnell, Gordon Humphrey and Dave Durenberger, plus Governors George Deukmejian and Tom Kean.
Along with Andrew Kohut, the president of the Gallup Organization, and political scientist Norman Ornstein, McCarthy is the author of "The People, Press, and Politics" (Addison-Wesley, 1988), an analysis of the largest and most detailed surveys of the American electorate ever conducted.
McCarthy has also served as communications director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, press secretary for Senator John Heinz and assistant press secretary for Senator Jacob Javits. He is a graduate of Georgetown University.
McCarthy's articles and reviews have appeared in the Washington Post, Advertising Age, Saturday Review, Gannett Center Journal, Campaign Magazine, Ameritech Magazine, and Roll Call.
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