Party Lines Split Mission Viejo Home

If you think the next nine weeks are going to be lively in the Bush and Clinton households, wait until you meet the Lanes of Mission Viejo.

At least George and Barbara and Bill and Hillary can agree, within their respective households, as to who should be President. At the moment, that’s more than Kathy and Tim Lane can say.

Kathy, who is head of the English department at Laguna Hills High School, and her husband, Tim, an civil litigation attorney, are lifelong registered Republicans. Both are 45, and both have faithfully voted the party line since casting their first votes for Richard Nixon in 1968.

But as the Republican convention was winding down two weeks ago, Kathy Lane broke camp--and tradition--when she announced to her husband and two daughters that she had decided not only to vote for Democrats Bill Clinton and Al Gore, but to campaign for them as well.

“If anyone had told me four years ago that I’d end up campaigning for a Democratic presidential candidate in the next election, I’d have laughed,” says Kathy, who’s been politically active since first running for student office during her freshman year in high school. “But what’s happened over the last four years is no laughing matter. It’s time to ignore party lines and vote for the candidates who are best equipped to lead this country. And in this election, Clinton and Gore are clearly a far better choice.”

Tim, who remains a staunch Bush supporter, couldn’t disagree more with his wife.

“Kathy has a very strong will, and she does what she wants to do, but my honest opinion is that she’s been swayed by all the hoopla and rhetoric that came out of the Democratic convention,” he says.

The Clinton/Gore vs. Bush/Quayle debate is a political football that Kathy and Tim have playfully but passionately tossed back and forth since Kathy declared her intentions to support Clinton.

Tim dismisses Kathy’s political views as “shortsighted” and suggests his wife has been “too heavily influenced” by Clinton’s polished style, his wife, Hillary, and what he calls Clinton’s “baby-boomer appeal.”

Kathy, on the other hand, accuses her husband of being “closed-minded,” waging a campaign against Democrats of yesteryear instead of honestly evaluating the candidates of 1992 and “parroting the negative sound bites he hears on TV.”

While Tim says he respects Kathy’s right to support the candidates of her choice, he jokingly argues that he objects to her “trying to contaminate the children” (daughters Suzy, 21, a political science major at UC San Diego; and Kathleen, 20, a student at Biola University.)

“She’s constantly clipping articles and trying to persuade the girls and me to follow her lead,” Tim says. “But I just keep reminding her that it’s three against one.”

Kathy warns Tim not to count the votes until they’re cast.

“I’ve told Tim that even if the girls do decide to vote for Bush, which I’m hoping they won’t as they become more familiar with the candidates and their positions, I still have a lot more power than a single vote. I plan to get out there and motivate other people to vote and to make their own difference.”

Suzy, who just returned from a year in Spain, says the political debate between her parents had been as educational as it has been entertaining.

“Having been out of the country for a year, I was a little disconnected from what was happening here politically,” she explains. “As soon as I got back, I walked into this big political disagreement. But it’s been a lot of fun. Dad has a real sense of humor. He really knows how to push Mom’s buttons, and sometimes he baits her just to get her going. He thinks it’s funny. But I’m learning a lot from her. She has a lot of insight, and she’s totally committed to Clinton and what he stands for.”

Daughter Suzy says that while it’s fun getting caught in her parents’ political cross-fire, she says she doubts that either will ultimately sway the other’s opinion.

“My dad can be pretty close-minded,” she says. “I really don’t think my mom’s going to persuade him, no matter how many articles she gives him to read. He’s as determined and opinionated as she is.”

Psychologist Joyce Brothers says spousal disagreements over politics are an inevitable sign of the times.

“Women used to keep quiet about politics until they got into the voting booth,” Brothers says. “Once inside, they jumped up and down and did what they darn well pleased. But nowadays, women are much more comfortable taking a public stand and defending their points of view.”

Brothers says the key to political disagreements is to keep them in perspective and to respect the other person’s point of view, even when you don’t agree.

“Unless there are already other serious problems, a disagreement over politics isn’t going to pose any threat to the marriage,” she says. “I encourage people to look at the process of disagreement as a growth experience. When both people can express their views intelligently and fully, it gives them a chance to learn more about the other’s thought processes, sense of reasoning and sense of humor.”

While daughter Suzy says she would probably vote for Bush if the election were today, she’s open to learning as much as she can about Clinton and Gore.

“There’s still a lot of time left,” she says. “I want to watch the debates, read, listen to what both of the candidates have to say and also talk about the issues with both my parents.”

In the meantime, she says, she expects the political heat in the Lane household to escalate during the next nine weeks.

“My mom has already taped a Clinton bumper sticker on the inside of Dad’s medicine cabinet and on the dashboard of his car,” Suzy says with a laugh. “She calls them subtle reminders. There’s no telling what he’ll do to get even.”

Kathy says that even though she’s afraid Tim is “hopeless,” she’s still hopeful that both daughters will come around as the campaign hits the homestretch. She says she’s going to continue working on all three of them right up until Election Day.

“Up until now, Tim’s been calling me names,” she says. “But just last night, he actually listened for a minute. So I’m going to keep on doing my best to convince them. Between now and the third of November, it’s going to get hot and heavy.”