Democrats rattled by Bush's popularity among Jews

The Republican Jewish Coalition is the national grassroots organization of Jewish Republicans. The RJC's Board of Directors includes Ari Fleischer, Cliff May and dozens of other notable Republicans nationwide.

WASHINGTON, DC (JTA) -- Worried by signs of President Bush's soaring popularity among Jews, Democrats launched a coordinated campaign 18 months ago to win back Jewish votes.

In recent interviews with the JTA, top Democrats who attended the meetings disclosed the secret strategy sessions for the first time.

The campaign has three prongs, according to senior Democratic operatives who were involved in its formulation: Stress the Democratic Party's commitment to Israel and raise questions about Bush's own commitment; remind Jewish voters they are much likelier to favor Democratic positions on domestic issues, and marginalize Democrats who alienate Jews.

Ann Lewis, the Jewish former director of communications for the Clinton administration, attended a series of meetings of top Democrats in spring 2002 to discuss what they saw as a deteriorating situation with Jewish voters.

The trigger was a May 5, 2002, "Solidarity with Israel" vote in Congress that drew 21 nay votes -- including 18 from Democrats.

"Our discussions following the vote showed we were not as proactive as we should have been" with Jewish voters, Lewis recalled.

The congressional vote wasn't the only issue, however. It was becoming clear that Bush was gearing up for war with Iraq and that most Democratic legislators were less than enthusiastic about the prospect.

In town-hall type meetings, Jewish community officials said, it became evident that Jewish Americans saw Saddam Hussein's potential downfall as a blessing for Israel and wondered why the Democrats weren't on board.

"We were becoming aware of a string of political argument on the other side, which was that people who disagreed with the war on Iraq were somehow soft on terrorism or less reliable on America being a friend of Israel," Lewis said.

The outreach initiative to the Jewish community was seen as a way to counter aggressive new Republican tactics to undermine traditional Jewish financial support for the Democrats.

Some at the Democratic strategy meetings worried that Jews believed the party was taking the community for granted because of its overwhelming support in previous elections.

That notion was reinforced by exit polls after the 2002 midterm elections, which showed a return to Reagan-era numbers when Jews voted Democratic by a 2-1 margin, not the 5-1 or 6-1 ratios of the Clinton era.

"What we've done since then is to be much more conscious of outreach to the Jewish community," Lewis said, as well as "much more explicit" in support for Israel.

Since then, Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland has taken the lead in reaching out to the Jewish community. His campaign keeps a list of 15 pro-Israel actions Hoyer has taken since March 2003, such as leading a delegation of 29 Democratic legislators to the Jewish state in August.

"We needed to articulate our case. I wanted to articulate our values," Hoyer told JTA in a phone interview.

The senior leadership aide said it was a matter not of reformulating strategy, but of reminding Jewish voters where Democrats stand.

That meant, first of all, allowing little light between the Democrats and Israel. One of Hoyer's first tasks as whip was to retake the Israel solidarity vote. He did so on June 25, and this time it passed the House by a vote of 399-5.

In a speech last month to the America Israel Public Affairs Committee, Hoyer said the group of legislators went to Israel in August "to express solidarity with Israel's cause -- freedom and democracy -- as well as her determination to survive and succeed as a sanctuary for the Jewish people."

The primary lesson of the trip, Hoyer told AIPAC, was that the West Bank security barrier, "which has engendered great controversy, is viewed by Democrats as a reasonable and acceptable attempt to reduce terrorist attacks."

Hoyer is at the lead of a group of Democrats who have blasted Bush for criticizing the route of the security fence approved by Israel's government. Bush has made clear he wants the West Bank fence to adhere more or less to the pre-1967 boundary between Israel and Jordan.

Hoyer said he plans to be even more vociferous about Bush's linking of the fence to loan guarantees for Israel.

Taking such shots at a president who calls Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon a "man of peace" might seem like folly, but Democrats believe Bush is becoming vulnerable.

"Right now, this administration is perceived as very pro-Israel, but that could change," said Mark Mellman, a top Democratic pollster. He cited pressure over the security fence as well as the administration's insistence on adherence to the U.S.-led "road map" peace plan, which many in the pro-Israel community consider moribund.

Ira Forman, executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council, was present at the spring 2002 strategy meetings. He says there are signs Bush may well get tough with Israel in a second term, when he doesn't have to worry about re-election.

Another pressure point is Bush's perceived warmth toward Saudi Arabia. Virtually every Democratic candidate for president has called for greater scrutiny of the Saudi royal family and its role in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Lewis raised the issue in her own speech to the AIPAC annual meeting last month.

"The president and this party are significantly head-and-shoulders above anyone running on the Democratic side right now" when it comes to Israel, said Matt Brooks, executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition.

Stories about Bush family ties to the Saudis or threats that Bush will emulate his father's coolness toward Israel won't work," Brooks said.

"That's the same thing they tried to scare the Jewish community with in 2000," he said. "There is not one leader in the Jewish community who believes that."

Some Democrats indeed are wary of tackling Bush on the Middle East, and say it's enough to tell Jewish voters that Democrats share Bush's commitment to the Jewish state.

"Democrats don't have to be better than Republicans on Israel, they just have to be as good," said Steve Rabinowitz, a Democratic political adviser who attended the spring 2002 meetings. "So long as Democrats are competitive, it invariably shifts to domestic issues, where we beat them hands down."

There is little reluctance, however, in challenging the Bush administration on domestic issues, a key element of the strategy to emerge from the spring 2002 meetings.

"The commitment to the diversity of our nation, ensuring that we invest in the education and health of our people," Hoyer said, are values that American Jews still hold and issues on which the Democrats will continue to pursue Jewish support.

"Look at the demographics of people who vote Democrat: People who don't go to church often, with a graduate level of education, who don't have guns, who live in the inner suburbs or cities," Forman said. "This should be a Democratic constituency."

John Zogby, a leading Washington pollster, makes the same case. Recent polling shows 75 percent Jewish support for the Democrats, Zogby said.

"The thing that comes out loud and clear is that while Israel is of tremendous importance to Jewish voters, they're not one-dimensional, they still are a liberal-Democrat core constituency, they're very much anti-Bush on domestic programs and they did not enthusiastically support the Iraq war," Zogby said.

He cited one question from his latest national poll. Overall, he said, 55 percent of Americans believe Bush won the 2000 election legitimately, while 38 percent believe Bush stole it in Florida.

Among Jews, those numbers are reversed: some 71 percent believe it was stolen, and only 22 percent think Bush was elected legitimately.

But Brooks said foreign policy would be key in the first presidential election since the Sept. 11 attacks.

"Those that believe and want to believe that they´re going to run a campaign on domestic issues are mistaken," Brooks said. "This will be a foreign-policy election."

That's especially true since Bush is faring better than expected on domestic issues, Brooks said, given the rebounding economy and the president´s involvement in issues Jews care about, such as education.

Some Democrats believe it will be a challenge to move Jews away from their preoccupation with Israel.

A Howard Dean candidacy will be especially challenging, Democrats acknowledge, because of Dean´s call several months ago for U.S. "even-handedness" in the Middle East. Those remarks continue to dog the former Vermont governor, widely considered the front-runner in the Democratic primaries.

Dean has said his remarks were misinterpreted and that he merely meant greater U.S. involvement in resolving the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Hoyer mobilized the signatories of a letter to Dean from congressional Democrats asking the candidate for clarification.

"I'm not at all interested in being neutral between democracy and totalitarianism, terrorism and self- defense," Hoyer said.

Hoyer says that now he is satisfied with Dean´s clarification, and the senior Democratic leadership aide says that if Dean wins the nomination, Hoyer would focus on educating him on Israel. That has been Hoyer´s strategy with Democratic newcomers. In fact, more than a third of the delegation that visited Israel in August were first-termers.

When Democrats won´t come aboard on Jewish issues, the party has a different strategy: Drive them out.

"Only on the extreme left edge of the Democratic party, like the extreme right edge" of the Republican Party, "do you see anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism, and we have to stamp it out," Forman said.

Two virulently anti-Israel congressmen — Cynthia McKinney of Georgia and Earl Hilliard of Alabama — organized support against the 2002 solidarity vote that triggered the new Democratic outreach to the Jews. Jewish money helped opponents defeat them in 2002 party primaries, and Hoyer is not shy about reminding Jews of that success.

As the campaign against Bush heats up, Democrats are going to be busy making sure U.S. Jews — and voters generally — remember their achievements.

"Hoyer said he plans to be even more vociferous about Bush's linking of the fence to loan guarantees for Israel. "

that is just wrong:

The deduction does not target Israel’s security fence, which Israel will complete in consultation with the United States. This deduction was anticipated and applies only to the construction of settlements.

"Only on the extreme left edge of the Democratic party, like the extreme right edge" of the Republican Party, "do you see anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism, and we have to stamp it out," Forman said.

I consider myself FAR right wing and I wholeheartedly support Israel. What exactly is the "extreme right edge" anyways? KKK? I dont consider them Republican...afterall, they WERE southern democrats.

Unlike other Dem voting blocks, which for the most part are heavily concentrated in certain states and congressional districts, the Jewish vote is well dispersed throughout the country..and if you see a shift to the GOP could prove to be enough to make a difference in a few keys states...Wisconsin for example...and while Jews might not YET be willing to financially support the GOP, if they withhold their $$$ from the Dems, that's even MORE effective...

I guess Ill never understand the Jewish democrat vote...

Republican president removes a guy who finances family members of suicide bombers responsible for maiming innocent Jewish people... So who do they support?

"Anyone but Bush ®"

"Worried by signs of President Bush's soaring popularity among Jews"

Based on ... what?

The "unreliably small samples" of the exit polls during the 2002 midterm election? Which showed 2:1 against Bush.

The recent Zogby polling showing 75 percent Jewish support for the Democrats? Wow, if this is "soaring popularity", then what was it before?

That guy failed to mention that the far right, especially evangelicals and other religous people, are now the most ardent supporters of Isreal. Meanwhile the left runs over anbd supports terrorists who bomb Isreali cafes and at least one democrat running for president has a history of anti-semitic remarks.

The rat party is telling the Jew to stay home, we'd rather have Dean who wants to let tyrants in the mideast go unchecked and wants to put the UN (who consistently condems Israel) in charge.

Who you going to believe ? Your lying eyes or me ?

I do think the Democrats will lose some Jewish support this time around. Aside from the anti-semitism that is permeating from the Left, the recent comparisons of Bush to Hilter aren't too smart. For those Jews who remember the atrocities of Hitler and Nazism, these comparisons are an insult to the memory of those who died in the Holocaust. The democrats are doing to Hitler and Nazism what many of them have already done to racism: With these comparisons, they are minimizing that evil...and insulting those who are intimately familiar with such brutality. The irnoy is, if someone would have done to Hitler what Bush has done to these scum in the Mid-East, we might not have had a Holocaust...and yet, we are to believe Bush is the evil one? It just shows what a warped perspective liberals have about themselves and our society

How can the Party of antisemite "rev" Al Sharpton, who insigated the murder of two Jewish men in Brokklyn by a mob, claim to be the preferred party for Jews? Sharpton hates Jews, judging by his actions, and the DemcRat party has treated Sharpton with deference, pretending that he is a presidential contender.

And lest we forget "rev" Jesse Jackson, I recall when he called New York City "hymietown" because of its large Jewish population.

The DemocRat Party is the home of big-tent hypocritical bigots.

I could never become a Jew, I love bacon too much!

I swear the hardcore Dim Jew would vote for more showers and ovens if a Democrat ran on it? We only need to take 10% to do real damage to the Rats! Same with Blacks in that they do not see W as the KKK member the left always portrays. Remember the dragging death commercials???

Pray for W and Iraqi Freedom

This is great. The Dems are slow to learn that the feel-goodism towards Palestinian/Arab interests which they thought would win them the respect of the world community is now backfiring. Every day their ignorance shines brighter.

Too many Jews have been enamored of socialism since its 19th century European foundations, ostensibly from its facade of "justice" that was supposed to liberate them from the ghettos, and help secularists "assimilate".

That it didn't and doesn't work though, hasn't stopped the disaffected, the apathetic and the ignorant from trying it, and continually forcing its nonsense here in America.

I think that while the number of Jews who vote republican will grow, the vast majority of Jews will still vote democrat.

Using my own family as an example, there's just no reasoning with them. You can point out example after example of how democrats are hurting them, their interests, and Israel, they'll agree, then say, "but there's no way that I'm going to vote for a republican."

I think that more college age Jews will vote republican, after seeing the "peace protestors" spewing their hate at not just Israel, but Jews in general, and seeing the links between groups like the PA and moveon.org.

I also think that if we can keep the "Bush==Hitler" advertisements front and center in the minds of Jews, it will hurt the democrats as well.

Mark

Not true... the Jewish vote is heavily concentrated in New York, New Jersey, Flordia, Pennsylvania, California and Illinois. Even in those states, the Jewish population only makes a difference in New York, New Jersey, and Florida (the Jews of CA, PA, and IL-- are too small a % of the population). Of those 3 states, only NJ and FL are really in play.

Jewish money can make a much greater difference. I do agree that many liberal Jews will be less willing to contribute to a Dean campaign...

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