By Dan Tuohy
Party of Four: front (l-r) Matt Vallone and Chris Casey. Back (l-r) Chris Siefkin and Matt Flathers. |
While so many young adults are discouraged by politics as usual, these roommates are relishing their bipartisan existence.
Senior biology major Matt Flathers didn't see much in politics. What he saw was the scandal—the presidential cover-ups, the endless campaign telemarketing, and the incessant mudslinging. Politics was men and women who spoke of themselves in the third person and said things like, "It depends on what the meaning of 'is' is."
But after living with three politically charged roommates for the past year, he has become more openminded. Flathers still watches the Discovery Channel, but admits to being a recent convert to Fox News and CNN. He jokes that the transition was more of a brainwashing. "I'm starting to go towards the other side, realizing it's not all lies and corruption."
These bipartisan living arrangements could be the set of the next reality TV series, or at least a political experiment worth some study. The cast includes Flathers, the apolitical swing voter; Chris Casey, the 2002-2003 student body president; Chris Siefken, GOP faithful and head of the campus political union; and Matt Vallone, a Democrat representing Epping in the New Hampshire House of Representatives.
A Manchester native who has been interested in politics since age 10, Siefken lost a bid for state representative by just 60 votes. Vallone earned some bragging rights among his roommates. At 21, he became the fourth generation of his family to serve in the New Hampshire House. He got hooked at age 7 during the 1988 elections, when his family was featured on NBC's Today Show for the slew of presidential hopefuls who stumped at their general store.
While they clash about fiscal policy and the role of government, politics has actually brought them closer, with Casey, Siefken, and Vallone all majoring in political science.
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