Politics: the third rail of dating

Democrats and Republicans likely agree that the country is increasingly polarized, that former President George Bush failed to live up to his promise to be a uniter, not a divider, and that President Obama is nowhere near delivering on changing the way Washington works.

The parties would undoubtedly disagree about who bears the lion's share of the blame.

So the country has, for the time being, settled into its separate cultural corners. And that may be making it difficult for the politically interested to find compatible dates.

"People can't come together in the same way that they used to be able to, so you can't necessarily date people who have opposite political views because opposite political views turn into opposite lifestyles, opposite moral views, opposite views of faith," Christopher McAvoy, a self-proclaimed social conservative with more Democratic-leaning economic views, told CBS News.

And in that void, at least one entrepreneur has found an opportunity. Alex Fondrier is the co-founder and CEO of Political Matchmakers, the company that launched RedStateDate.com and BlueStateDate.com. The web ads for the sites play on the culture war stereotypes--"'Bruce is a conservative.' 'What? No, but he seems so normal!' 'Did you see the gun in his pants?' A Republican falls into despair after being told that the girl he was hitting off with "spent the last three years working for Green Peace" and has a "Thanksgiving turkey is made of soy."

Fondrier has set out to solve what he refers to as "the third rail of dating," the idea that politics is a touchy subject, and for many, a dealbreaker.

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