Politics in a purple home

Felix had Oscar.

Mary Matalin has James Carville.

But I've found an even odder couple living under the same roof.

Scott Talkov of the Inland Empire and Erick "E.D." Harris of Missouri are law school roommates and political junkies at Washington University in St. Louis. After talking to them Sunday night by phone, I don't know how they can agree on how to order a pizza, let alone share an apartment.

Talkov, who has a law firm job lined up in Riverside next spring and hopes to go into politics one day, retreats to his room to watch election news on CNN.

Harris, who also hopes to run for political office one day, hunkers down in his own room to watch Fox News.

Talkov, 27, loves Sen. Barack Obama and can't wait for election day.

Harris, 25, is an arch-conservative who will proudly cast a vote for Sen. John McCain.

Oh, and did I mention?

Talkov, the Obama disciple, is white. And Harris, who believes McCain will pull off a big surprise next Tuesday, is African American.

"Sometimes we yell and scream at each other and people at parties think we're going to kill each other," said Harris. "But the next morning we don't even remember half the conversation."

When they moved in together a few months ago, Talkov took the liberty of adorning their front door with some anti-George Bush posters.

"They were removed and put inside my room," said Talkov, who, unlike his roommate, opposed the war in Iraq.

And yet he insists that aside from politics, they love each other's company, like having an opportunity to know how the other side thinks even if it's balderdash, and have been pals since they met more than a year ago.

Dermot Givens, an African American Los Angeles attorney, knows both of them and told me their story. I wanted to know more. I'm up to my ears with all the red state-blue state bickering, and the idea of checking in on a purple household seemed refreshing.

Givens was managing L.A. City Councilman Bernie Parks' 2005 mayoral campaign when he met Talkov. Then a UC Santa Barbara student, Talkov wanted to join the cause but it was clear by then Parks wasn't going to win, so Givens suggested Talkov work instead for candidate Bob Hertzberg. Talkov liked the experience so much that Givens encouraged him to study law as a way into politics.

When Talkov met Harris in St. Louis, he called Givens to say his best friend at school was a black Republican.