JTA Election Central

Pastor Larry Kroon confirmed to JTA today that Sarah Palin was present in church on Aug. 17 when a representative from Jews for Jesus gave a sermon describing how successful his group has been at converting Israelis and how the Middle East is in turmoil today because the locals don’t accept Jesus.
Kroon said [...]

The 2008 campaign has already offered one object lesson in what happens when the press starts looking into your pastor’s sermons. Now it’s Sarah Palin’s turn to come under the microscope.
Less than three weeks ago, on Aug. 17, Palin’s church, Wasilla Bible Church, hosted a talk by David Brickner of Jews for Jesus (audio [...]

We’re not the only ones scouring the record today to find out about Palin’s religious affiliations. So far, the most cited reference is from this summer’s Alaska Assemblies of God newsletter:
Superintendent Ted Boatsman, who was Palin’s junior high pastor at Wasilla Assembly of God, along with Pastor Mike Rose of Juneau Christian Center, where [...]

Republican John McCain has picked a relatively unknown governor, Alaskan Sarah Palin, as his running mate.
We don’t know much about Palin, and neither do the Republican Jewish activists we’ve talked to. But here’s a quick rundown of some Jewish Alaska connections (No, Palin’s not Jewish, but what else are we supposed to do?):

Alaska Airlines [...]

With the media buzzing interminably about John McCain’s still unnamed (and reportedly undecided) running mate, Michael Cooper of the New York Times found meaning in the timing of a campaign rally on Saturday:
It turns out that the Saturday rally in Senator John McCain’s roll-out tour of a vice-presidential running mates will take place in [...]

Barack Obama, campaigning Monday in Davenport, Iowa, took a question about the recent federal raid at the kosher meatpacking plant up the road in Postville. The Democrat responded:
“We’ve got to crack down on employers who are taking advantage of undocumented workers. When you read about a meatpacking plant hiring 13-year-olds, 14-year-olds - that is [...]

According to a piece in today’s New York Times, Barack Obama may have been bending so far backwards to reassure voters that he’s not a closet Muslim that he has offended, well, Muslims. Obama has even kept Washington’s sole Muslim lawmaker, Keith Ellison, at arm’s length.
The Times reports:

While the senator has visited churches and synagogues, [...]

Some months back JTA sought an interview with Barack Obama’s controversial ex-pastor Jeremiah Wright. We were told by Trinity United Church of Christ that the pastor wasn’t giving interviews. Well, Wright is staying quiet no longer.
On Sunday night, he got a standing ovation from 10,000 attendees at an NAACP dinner in Detroit (video here).
Last [...]

In his continuing effort to put the issues of his controversial pastor to rest, Barack Obama took a different tack when he spoke Wednesday from the pulpit of a Philadelphia synagogue, downplaying the role of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright in his life.
“He was my pastor,” Obama said, dismissing the notion frequently put forward that [...]

Last night Barack Obama reminded us why some hawkish pro-Israel folks prefer Hillary Clinton.
Asked whether he would extend American deterrence to Israel, Obama, carefully crafting his words, promised “appropriate action” in the event of an Iranian attack:
As I’ve said before, I think it is very important that Iran understands that an attack on [...]

New Jersey Congressman Steve Rothman came out in support of a blind rabbi’s bid for congress this week. Dennis Shulman has racked up a string of endorsements in recent weeks — including former presidential candidate Gen. Wesley Clark and recently sworn in New York Governor David Paterson — and was the subject of a recent [...]

The controversy about Obama’s foreign policy advisers continues. The New York Sun reports that Zbigniew Brzezinski, an adviser to Barack Obama, is en route to Damascus at the helm of a delegation from the RAND Corporation.
Brzezinski, who was Jimmy Carter’s national security advisor, is considered cool to Israel, and he was cited in [...]

Ron Kampeas just filed a brief about Steve Cohen, the Tennessee congressman who once again finds himself on the receiving end of anti-Semitic invective. Even worse, his opponent in the Democratic primary won’t condemn it.
A Tennessee congressional candidate has declined to disavow a flier saying the incumbent and the Jews hate Jesus.
The flier, which [...]

Hillary Clinton took 60 percent of the Jewish vote in the Maryland primary. Here’s the JTA brief about the breakdown:
Hillary Clinton won 60 percent of the Jewish vote in Maryland’s Democratic primary, but Barack Obama won overall.
Sen. Obama (D-Ill.) was the choice of virtually every other religious group polled, and he easily won the state [...]

U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich denied an Internet rumor that Jewish officials had offered to help him win re-election if he dropped impeachment efforts against President Bush.
The rumor, which has gained traction in recent days on left-wing blogs, alleges that U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and several representatives of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee [...]