Polls Apart : At USC, a Democrat and a Republican Work Together--and Add Pizazz to Campus Politics

Democrats and Republicans haggling over the budget in Washington could learn a thing or two from the way the Democrat and the Republican handle the budget in Los Angeles.

Sarah Szalavitz and Stephen Lesher balance their spending package over coffee-flavored milkshakes and hot fudge sundaes.

For two years, the USC seniors have been in charge of allocating the $40,000 annual budget that brings political speakers to the school. And their collaboration has turned them into the campus odd couple.

Szalavitz is president of California College Democrats--someone who spends her spare time working in needle-exchange programs for drug addicts and walking precincts for liberal candidates such as San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown.

Lesher is chairman of the California Republican Party Youth Committee--a person who helps write speeches for Gov. Pete Wilson and works behind the scenes at events such as Richard Nixon’s funeral.

Szalavitz rolls her eyes when Lesher tells of hero-worshiping Dan Quayle. Lesher grimaces when Szalavitz speaks of President Clinton’s leadership qualities.

“She embodies everything I’m against,” he acknowledges.

“I can’t believe a person can think like he thinks,” she counters.

No wonder eyebrows shot up at USC when the 21-year-olds started showing up together at parties, football games and library study tables.

An officer from the school’s Republican club took Lesher aside at the campus bookstore when he spied him helping Szalavitz shop for her class ring.

“He came over and whispered, ‘I’m sure you’re late for the ACLU meeting,’ ” Lesher recalls. “Later, he asked what I was doing fraternizing with the enemy.”

Members of the campus Democrats club had the same question for Szalavitz. But it turns out friendship has paid off for both the couple and the campus.

The Republican ended up editing the Democrat’s 100-page thesis last semester for her political science class. The Democrat helped write the Republican’s campaign literature and speeches last spring when he ran for the presidency of the statewide California College Republicans group.

“She’s going to redo my resume for me,” Lesher said. “Sarah’s the only person I’d trust to do that.”

“We respect each other,” Szalavitz said.

Their relationship has added some pizazz to politics at USC. In the past, the campus was known for raucous political gatherings disrupted by hecklers planted in the crowd to hurl invective--and occasional tomatoes--at a rival party’s speaker.

Not these days. There is genuine discussion and debate at political gatherings jointly organized by Szalavitz and Lesher, said Radha Thompson, a 22-year-old business major who is USC’s student body president. “Never have we had so much cooperation,” Thompson said.

The pair try to balance their speakers list between Republicans and Democrats. They typically thrash out names at a Baskin-Robbins ice cream parlor near the campus; he orders the sundae, she orders the shake.

Despite her liberal leanings, Szalavitz has worked to lure conservatives such as Oliver North and Bruce Herschensohn. Setting aside his conservatism, Lesher has invited liberals such as Michael S. Dukakis and James Carville.

In fact, Lesher and Szalavitz say they are constantly being compared with Carville and Mary Matalin--the Washington strategists whose romance blossomed even though he was Clinton’s campaign manager and she was deputy manager of George Bush’s reelection campaign.

Szalavitz and Lesher date others, however. And they are considering separate law schools after they graduate this spring--not to mention careers that will take them down distinctly different ideological paths.

But they have a common goal: to be in Congress 10 years from now, either as elected members or as staff aides.

That idea is not farfetched, said veteran USC political science professor Alison Dundes Renteln. She has had both in her classes.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if they ended up as colleagues in the U.S. Senate. Or one in the White House, picking the other to be in his or her staff or Cabinet,” Renteln said.

The odd couple wouldn’t be surprised to end up in the same political party in the future.

Predicts Szalavitz: “I firmly believe he will have a life experience at some point that will cause him to reshape his views.’

Replies Lesher: “Someday, she’ll change. Someday, she’ll have to pay taxes.”