Clinton, Crying Foul -- or Craftily Playing the Game?

The CNN commentator was swamped with calls last week after Fox's Major Garrett quoted sources as saying the Clinton camp planned to bring in Begala and James Carville as top advisers. Begala says that while he has donated to Clinton's campaign, he has not offered even informal advice or, as Garrett reported, joined a conference call.

"Whoever told you I am joining Hillary's campaign fed you some bum info," Begala wrote in an e-mail to Garrett. "It's just not true. Or as I say to my boys, N.H.D. Not. Happening. Dude." Garrett replied that he would "take it under advisement" and added Begala's denial to his reports.

"He has better sources about what I'm going to do than me?" asks Begala, who recounted the exchange on the Huffington Post.

Garrett says his sources insist the story is on target. "Just because someone denies what you're reporting doesn't mean you're in fact wrong," he says. "I have a record in this town, when I'm wrong, of admitting I'm wrong instantly. . . . I feel extremely good about my sources."

Says Begala: "I don't accuse him of making it up. I accuse him of not checking with me."

Carville, also a CNN analyst, says he "never had a conversation with anyone" about joining the campaign and was never called by Fox. He calls himself a "friend of the family" and says he did write a strategy memo for Clinton.

Howard Kurtz hosts CNN's weekly media program, "Reliable Sources."