WASHINGTON-Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC's Hardball and star of NBC's The Chris Matthews Show, has accepted an invitation to speak at CUNA's Governmental Affairs Conference in February. Matthews also anchors MSNBC's election coverage. Previously, he served as Washington Bureau Chief of the San Francisco Examiner and a national columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. The journalist was also a speechwriter and White House aide for President Jimmy Carter, top assistant to Speaker of the House "tip" O'Neill, Jr., staff assistant to the Senate Budget Committee and Senator Frank Moss' (D-Utah) legislative assistant. Matthews has authored four best-selling books, including Hardball, Kennedy & Nixon, Now, Let Me Tell You What I Really Think, and American: Beyond our Grandest Notions just last year. A graduate of Holy Cross, Matthews did graduate work in economics at the University of North Carolina and served two years in the Peace Corps in Swaziland. Matthews joins a list of distinguished speakers already lined up for GAC, including Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, Treasury Secretary John Snow, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), House Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Subcommittee Chairman Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.), House Small Business Committee Chairman Donald Manzullo (R-Ill.), and all three NCUA Board members.