There is a corner of Compton that's nearly as Democratic as the Bill and Hillary Clinton household in New York. And part of La Mirada tilts so Republican, it's like Los Angeles County's own private Idaho.
In every presidential election since 1988, a majority of county voters favored the Democratic nominee. But the region's political tent proved big enough in 2000 to accommodate a precinct where George W. Bush bagged 93% of the ballots, his best mark in California for a polling ward of more than 35 voters.
The Bush super-stronghold consisted mostly of Biola University, an evangelical Christian college in La Mirada. Just 15 miles away, the Compton precinct handed Al Gore 96% of the vote, tops in the county and close to his high mark in the state.
Residents of both areas predict similar results in Tuesday's showdown between President Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry.
"It's cool," student Dustin Earl said of Bush's popularity at Biola. Echoing many on campus, the 23-year-old philosophy major said he admired Bush for his opposition to abortion rights.
"You don't have much of a wide range of views here," Earl noted.
The same is true in the Compton precinct. Its cluster of tidy houses sits across Central Avenue from Compton Airport.
"I wouldn't be surprised if Kerry gets 100%," said Shep Edwards, 47, a telephone company technician. In a neighborhood refrain, he railed against Bush for the war in Iraq.
"We're in Iraq fighting over oil, basically," he said.
The precincts have patches of common ground. The young people at Biola spoke of their devotion to family values and lofty morals, as did the Compton folks. And the Compton voters were almost as likely as their Biola counterparts to invoke the Bible when discussing their political beliefs.
"Jesus would be a liberal, because he was always telling the rich to sell what they have and follow him," said Mollie Bell, 57, a postal worker who lives on 158th Street. "He has given us a commission to continue doing what he was doing, to help the downtrodden."
Biola theology student Joe Barsuglia, 23, couldn't quarrel with that.
"I think Jesus would have been a Democrat," he said with an uneasy chuckle. "He was a social reformer."
But Barsuglia said he would vote for Bush: "I think he's a strong leader."
The earthly divide between Biola and Compton is mirrored in their demographics and surroundings.
Biola's student body of about 5,100 is 70% white and appears solidly middle class. La Mirada, population 50,140, borders GOP bastion Orange County. The city has a per capita income of $25,281 and a low crime rate.
Bush won 52% of the overall La Mirada vote in 2000. He did as well or better in swaths of the San Gabriel, Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys, and along the Palos Verdes Peninsula.
Back in Democratic territory, the Compton precinct is mostly African American, Latino and working class. The city of Compton, home to 97,930 people, has a per capita income of $10,636 and a high crime rate.
Gore's tally exceeded 90% in all of Compton. His numbers were off the charts throughout South Los Angeles, in West Hollywood and in Santa Monica.
Bell said Kerry would benefit from Bush's positions against abortion and gay marriage, especially because of their association with the Christian right.
"I can't find the word abortion in the Bible, and I can't find homosexual in the Bible," said the Methodist lay leader and community activist, standing on her front porch at the kind of metal-mesh security door found up and down the street.
Her voice rising, Bell also slammed Bush for taking "us to war when he shouldn't have."
"What I can find in the Bible is, 'Thou shall not kill,' " she said.
Around the corner, Connie Causer, 49, a property manager, cited the same commandment in assailing Bush's handling of Iraq. "Let him and his family fight first," she said.
The families of precinct No. 1450045B look out for each other, Causer said. Many have lived there for four decades. They take pride in their well-groomed lawns and their efforts to drive gang members out of Tragniew Park, where tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams sometimes practiced as youngsters.
Like her neighbors, Causer could not name any Republicans in the precinct. "Rich -- that's the first thing we think when we hear 'Republican,' she said. "Nobody's rich around here."
In 2000, Bush got four votes in the precinct; Gore racked up 177.
Asked to guess which precinct went heaviest for Bush, most of the Compton residents said it must have been in Orange County. One said Simi Valley, another Beverly Hills. La Mirada didn't register.
"La Mirada?" said James Smith, 72. The retired bus driver laughed. "My son Derek lived in La Mirada. He's a Democrat."
Other Compton voters said they were only vaguely familiar with La Mirada and Biola, mainly as places they drive past occasionally. The Biola students, many of them from distant hometowns, were even less knowledgeable about Compton. Would they know how to get there?
