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California's Governor Ronald Reagan and Senator Thomas Kuchel are both Republicans, but the similarity ends there. They have been ideologically estranged and on opposite sides of party fights for years. Thus Reagan's election in 1966 seemed like a requiescat for Kuchel, who seeks his third full term next year. Of late, however, pressed by party leaders, the antagonists have been quietly learning to live and let live.

Detente has not come easily. Kuchel, 56, among the most liberal and independent of Republicans, is anathema to many of Reagan's conservative supporters. In 1962, Reagan backed Kuchel's opponent in the party primary. Kuchel returned the disfavor in the 1966 gubernatorial primary and then refused to support Reagan in the general election.

Obvious Needs. It would thus have seemed natural for the newly empowered Reagan to whoop up opposition to Kuchel in next year's primary. However, both men are finding that, regardless of past reasons for continuing the feud, political considerations provide more cogent motives for cooling it.

Kuchel's need is obvious. Reagan's support of a conservative challenger could cost Kuchel his seat. On the other hand, one of Reagan's major aims is to lead a cohesive California delegation to the 1968 Republican National Convention as the favorite-son candidate. A primary squabble could well disrupt that effort. Then there is Kuchel's value to California as the party whip and ranking Republican on the Interior Committee. As a Los Angeles businessman pointed out: "The state gets 25% of its gross product from the Federal Government. Conservative businessmen are realists. They understand that Kuchel works well with the powers in the Senate and knows his way around the Federal Establishment."

Look What I've Done. Reagan has already pledged neutrality in the event of a primary fight, and support of the party's senatorial candidate in the general election. "If I were Governor," says Kuchel, "I would do the same thing." More to the point, some of Reagan's friends have been discouraging ultraconservative Max Rafferty, the state superintendent of public instruction, from challenging Kuchel.

Although Kuchel and Reagan make no display of mutual admiration, their staffs are in frequent consultation. The Governor and the Senator have found it easy to cooperate on public-works programs to benefit the state, and have even agreed on a controversial plan to preserve California's redwood forests (TIME, March 24). Reagan's help on such nonideological issues can only buttress the look-what-I've-done-for-California theme that Kuchel will probably use in his re-election campaign. And Kuchel allowed solemnly last week: "I think a U.S. Senator has a duty to cooperate with the Governor of his state in order to represent the best interests of their common constituency." While that hardly made them political bedfellows, they at least seemed ready to bunk down in the same fraternity house.

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