European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 4, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse When is. Right Falls for gasp or. Left politically dangerous liaisons fascinate Washington James Carville Bill Clinton a senior adviser is drawn to competitive women even gop strategists. Mary Matalyn political director of the Bush Campaign has suspended her Romance with Carville. By Alessandra Stanley the new York times there is a woman who will fight to the death to make sure that Bill Clinton does not beat George Bush. There is a Man who will fight to the death to make sure that Bill Clinton does beat George Bush. People will say they re in love. Mary Matalin political director of president Bush s Campaign and James Carville gov. Bill Clinton s chief strategist Are Washington a oddest couple. Matalin says they have put their Romance on hold until the Campaign is Over. But Many of their colleagues seem sceptical that it is completely on hiatus a including the voluble Carville himself who cheerfully discusses their dangerous Liaison in the present tense. The relationship Between the two earthy High voltage Campaign figures is viewed As a political version of Romeo and Juliet or the Sharks and jets. But in the Campaign Road show production of a West Wing Story Quot Maria s lament that Quot when love comes so Strong there is no right or wrong a has been changed to Quot there is no right or Matalin and Carvilla Are merely the most vivid example of an epidemic of Cross dating a including the president s daughter Dorothy Bush Leblond who is engaged to a democratic congressional aide a that is alarming members of both parties. It is not just that in this partisan season fraternization is viewed As treason. There is an unsettling pattern to these bipartisan relationships nine times out of 10. It is a democratic Man involved with a Republican woman. This leads to theories. In homage to the film director Spike Lee some say this is a Case of opposites attracting in a sort of Quot Potomac Jungle but As for Why democratic men but not women Are breaking political taboos some have a theory that May deflate Republican male egos. Quot there is a dearth of Republican men you d want to Date Quot said Torie Clarke the press Secretary for the Bush re election Campaign who is engaged to a Democrat. Quot i Call them the galoshes and a Span Guys Quot Clarke said gleefully of her male political counterparts whom she described As More like Caspar Milquetoast than Arnold Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger an exception is a Bush supporter who married a member of the Kennedy clan Maria Shriver the television journalist. But others ascribe More sinister darwinian impulses to the democratic male species. Sheila Tate a former press Secretary to Nancy Reagan and George Bush spoke of democratic menus hormonal urges in terms usually used to describe the biological imperative of invertebrates. Quot the reason All these democratic men Are going after Republican women Quot Tate said Quot is that they re trying to replenish their Gene Pool to produce a and some democrats agree detecting a Balacian subtext to these courtship. Robert Squier a Media consultant said that some democrats were growing frustrated after losing three presidential elections in a Row. Quot if you can t win it you marry it Quot he said. When Bush s daughter announced her involvement with a the reason All these democratic men Are going after Republican women is that they re trying to replenish their Gene Pool to produce a Tate former press Secretary to Nancy Reagan and George Bush Robert p. Koch an administrative aide to the House majority Leader Richard a. Gephardt Bush May have quailed at first the Missouri Democrat after All is one of his More outspoken critics. But the president has embraced his democratic future son in Law with a Bush family accolade he is a Quot Good the course of bipartisan True love has not always run so smoothly. Debbie Dingell who was an Active Republican before her marriage said that when she first informed her parents that she was engaged to John d. Dingell a democratic representative from Michigan Quot Mother was Debbie Dingell Felt obliged to switch parties. Quot in a a romantic at heart a she said Quot but you have to be prepared to make some changes. Both cannot continue to be Active in different parties and end up in the same Janet g. Mullins a Republican who is assistant Secretary of state for legislative affairs declined to discuss How she had managed to maintain a romantic involvement with sen. George j. Mitchell of Maine not just a Democrat but also the majority Leader of the Senate. But there Are nearly a dozen other similarly prominent couples including Linda g. Stuntz a Republican who is Deputy Secretary of Energy and her husband Reid . Stuntz Democrat a senior aide on Dingell s Energy committee. And sen. Christopher j. Dodd of Connecticut a Democrat has dated Jackie m. Clegg a legislative aide to sen. Jake Garnr Utah. Carville said that love could Bridge even the greatest of divides. Quot it s feasible a he said of his relationship with Matalin. Quot it s just not Matalin denied reports that she had cooled the relationship under pressure from senior Republican party officials who feared her loyalties would be torn. A people assumed i was getting a hard time Quot she said Quot but it was t Matalin said she decided to suspend the relationship for her own reasons. Quot it is a complicated relationship the object of which is to not see each other not talk a and spend our Days destroying the other Guy s they rarely discussed ideological differences she said adding wryly Quot we have plenty of conflicts outside of politics. Quot i was attracted to his wackiness and eccentricity Quot she said. Quot he is very she acknowledged however that Quot there Are Days when i pick up the paper and i want to rip his face James Carville echoed her sentiments More gallantly. Quot we Are both very competitive people Quot he said Quot but i be never been attracted to shrinking he added Quot Mary is More popular with my democratic friends than i am but to me the least attractive thing about Mary is her politicians Are basically unromantic. Our readers think most Are Boring or Sleazy. They Are just not believable As romantic Isabel Swift editorial director of Silhouette books in fact Many of Matalino a friends suggest that the cajun irreverent and intense Carville is a democratic reincarnation of her former political Mentor Lee Atwater the Southern irreverent and hyperactive head of the Republican National committee who died last year. Quot i cringe when i hear that Quot said Matalin who explained that Carville and Atwater shared other differences besides ideology. Rock and Roll was one Quot James is pre beatles and Lee was Post beatles Quot she said. Many argue that the real explanation is that in Washington there is no real difference Between democrats and republicans a they Are All political animals mors obsessed with the adrenaline of Campaign Competition than ideological principles. Patrick h. Caddell a political consultant and an unpaid adviser to Jerry Brown the former California governor insisted that bipartisan romances were a symptom of corruption in Washington. Quot they Are a confirmation of what Jerry Brown has been saying it s a one party system a the incumbency party. They take the same Money support they same interests and share the same world Caddell said the Issue was scandalous enough to warrant in depth examination by Oprah Winfrey and Phil Donahue. Quot i d Call it bad choices Republican women and the democratic men who love them Quot he said few democratic women seem to be drawn to Republican men. A notable exception is Anna Bennett a democratic poll taker who married John Buckley an iconoclastic conservative who worked for president Ronald Reagan and Jack f. Kemp the housing Secretary and former congressman and who does not fit the Quot galoshes and a Span Quot Mold. Donna Brazile administrative assistant to Eleanor Holmes Norton the District of Columbia s non voting representative in Congress dismissed Republican men saying she Quot would t be caught in Broad Daylight with one of them let alone at night after Brazile said Many Republican women who had attained powerful positions in politics Quot tend to be Liberal on social issues so they Are attracted to our men. Quot there Are a lot of passionate fun men in our party Quot she said. But not that Many other democratic women say and the fact that several of the few eligible democratic bachelors have eschewed women in their own party has not gone unnoticed. Quot it drives me Nuis Quot said Susan Brophy administrative assistant to sen. Tim Wirth a Colo Quot i would t want to go out with any Republican relationships like that of Carville and Matalin have not escaped the Romance writing Industry. According to the dust jacket synopsis of Quot november returns Quot a steamy Romance novel Quot Spunky political consultant Maggie Mcgraw Quot Falls for Quot handsome charismatic Peter Barnes Quot who works for Quot the candidate who just might trounce Maggie s client on election Day. Quot the Blurb adds Quot conflict of interest that was an yet that plot turned readers off in droves. Quot november returns Quot sold poorly said Isabel d. Swift editorial director of Silhouette books a division of harlequin enterprises who explained that Romance novels pairing cowboys and debutantes or policewomen and convicts fared better. Quot politicians Are basically unromantic Quot Swift said apologetically. Quot our readers think most Are Boring or Sleazy. They Are just not believable As romantic heroes Page 14 b the stars and stripes monday May 4, 1992 the stars and stripes b Page 15
