You could always create a camera pointing to the front of the object. The only drawback is that if you alter the view while looking through the camera, you will also be rotating/zooming/panning the camera at the same time. This is great if you want a specific view with perspective added to it. But you will change the camera's position if you alt+anyclick

I find splitting polys much easier in perspective mode. I normally split at 50% to ensure parallel edges, and since Maya automatically snaps you to 50, it makes things easy. Then I can even split the halves some more.