PORTLAND – As a student at Kennebunk High School, one of Chris Lehane’s favorite sayings was, “In your face!” These days, as a political consultant, his ferocity strikes fear into opponents’ campaigns.

A spokesman and strategist for Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark, Lehane has developed a national reputation as a practitioner of political warfare.

“Other campaigns are terrified of Lehane because he’s so effective at nonstop spin,” said Kevin Mattson, a former executive director of the Maine Democratic Party.

A front-page profile Jan. 16 in The New York Times described him as “frenetic, colorful and, some contend, devious” for subterfuge such as distributing documents several days earlier that were unflattering to Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, for whom Lehane once worked.

In interviews, Lehane, 36, has said he never imagined reaching such a high-profile career, with jobs at the White House and perhaps with a future president.

Lehane’s sister, Erin Lehane of South Portland, says she and her brother got their interest in politics from their conservative mother and liberal father, Mary and Steve Lehane.

“We kind of ate and drank politics,” said Erin Lehane, who spent last year building support for the failed referendum to allow an Indian casino in Maine. “We grew up with that – it was politics and laughter, whether we were laughing at each other or at ourselves. In a funny way, you always had to watch your back. We were extremely competitive.”

Chris Lehane earned a bachelor’s degree from Amherst College and a law degree from Harvard. He worked on congressional campaigns in Maine, but got his big break in 1990 with the campaign of former Gov. Joseph Brennan.

After raising money for former President Clinton in 1992, Lehane became a top aide to Housing Secretary Andrew Cuomo and later became a spokesman for Al Gore at the White House and through the 2000 campaign.

In dealing with various scandals, Lehane referred to himself as a “master of disaster.”

When he heard that former Sen. Bill Bradley planned to criticize Gore on tobacco issues during the 2000 campaign, he provided reporters with information about Bradley’s voting record that showed it was similar to Gore’s.

Lehane upset Sen. Arlen Specter when he said the Pennsylvania Republican was “engaging in McCarthy-like tactics.” Lehane refused to back down.

Lehane quit the Kerry campaign in September in a dispute about how aggressively to respond to former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.

Mattson compared Lehane – in a nice way – to Republican strategists Karl Rove, who works for President Bush, and the late Lee Atwater, who worked on the senior Bush’s campaign.

“There’s no holds barred. All he’s worried about is winning,” Mattson said. “In Maine politics, you don’t run into many people like that.”

Mattson, who met Lehane when they worked together on Brennan’s campaign, found himself on the wrong side of the fence when he supported Bradley against Gore in 2000.

Lehane called and asked if they could meet privately at a Portland regional Democratic committee conference. Mattson agreed. He headed back to the room.

There he found Al Gore personally asking for his support.

“Gore puts the hammer on me,” Mattson said. “I folded like a cheap suit.”