JTA’s Jacob Berkman has been covering the Democratic congressional primary fight in Illinois between Dan Seals and Jay Footlik, who served as Bill Clinton’s and John Kerry’s Jewish liaison.

The final tally isn’t pretty: Seals 81% (72,704), Footlik 19% (16,563).

The Berkinator will have more later today.

Just in case you forgot during all the presidential hoopla, JTA is looking at the Democratic congressional primary in the 10th District of Illinois, where former Clinton aide and M.O.T. Jay Footlik is vying against Dan Seals to see who will get the chance to take on the strongly pro-Israel Republican incumbent Mark Kirk.

Footlik, who was the Jewish liaison for both Bill Clinton and
John Kerry, and has run a campaign that specifically reached out to the Jews, both in the Heeb-heavy district in the suburbs of Chicago and across the country. He boasts plenty of endorsements from Jewish luminaries, including Alan Dershowitz and Elie Weisel.

Of course, Footlik may have Chutzpah and Night, but now Seals has the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun Times.

Both of the major Chicago dailies have endorsed Seals — though in neither was it exactly a ringing endorsement.

Here is the Sun-Times endorsement:

“Footlik, a scrappy fighter, is strong in several areas but can’t compete with the complete package Seals offers.

We like Footlik’s Middle East experience — he lived there for four
years, was an adviser to President Clinton and worked for the Peres
Center for Peace. The Buffalo Grove resident is also a founding board member of a nonprofit dedicated to reducing U.S. dependence on oil.

But Seals is the better overall candidate to take on Kirk, a moderate
first elected in 2000.”

And here is the Trib’s:

“There isn’t a great deal of difference between Seals and Footlik on
policy. They’re both smart, well-prepared candidates. Voters, though, might have reason to question either candidate’s long-term commitment to them. Seals still lives a couple of blocks outside the district — he says he can’t afford to move into the 10th. Footlik just recently returned to the area, renting a home in Buffalo Grove.

Seals gets the edge, based on a better grasp of local issues and concerns. He is endorsed.”

As for our endorsement?

We support… Oh shoot Edwards just dropped out of the presidential
race. We need to get onto that. More Feb.5 when the election goes
down.

After filing a real live news story about the Jay Footlik vs. Dan Seals primary race for the 10th Congressional District in Illinois (instead of reportage through blogging) I got a frantic call from Simon Behrmann, Footlik’s campaign manager, informing me that my story contained a “factual error.”

It’s not the kind of call you want at 8:30 at night after a pretty long day. Behrmann, though, is claiming that Seals’ assertion that he is an adjunct professor at Northwestern University is not true. Seals regularly rolls out his position at Northwestern as a key piece of his resume. It is on his Web site. I heard him talk about the position at two debates. And he told me in an interview about the job.

But Footlik’s campaign is saying it is a fudge, that Seals has never taught at Northwestern and has only signed up to teach a class that will start in April. That is well after the Feb. 5 primary, and is misleading to voters who could see Seals’ affiliation to Northwestern, a highly respected university, as a sign of credibility, Behrmann says.

The Seals campaign flatly denies the charge.

“These types of baseless political attacks are why people are fed up with Washington and ready for change,” said Liz Smith, Seals’ communications director. “Dan is running for congress to put an end to this type of politics.”

(Barack? Is that you?)

Read the rest

On Sunday night, after traveling Chicago’s suburbs for three days, trailing the two Illinois Democrats vying to knock Mark Kirk out of the state’s 10th Congressional district seat (here and here), I finally caught up with the Republican incumbent lat night — in New Jersey.

Kirk spoke to a mostly Modern Orthodox group of donors at a newly constructed mansion in Englewood, at a fund raiser held for him by Norpac, a single-issue political action committee that raises around $1 million per year for pro-Israel incumbents in the House and Senate.

Out of about 20 guests, I was one of only two men not wearing yarmulkes.

Kirk’s voting record on Israel is impeccable: He has pushed for Israel to be included in whatever neo-Star Wars plans the government has in place, helped secure aero-missiles for Israel, and aided Israel’s successful effort to secure American “Eyes-in-the-Sky” data that would give the Jewish state 11 minutes warning if a missile attack was launched against it. Kirk has also been an outspoken critic of UNWRA, the U.N. agency charged with aiding Palestinian refugees and frequently accused of fostering anti-Israel sentiment. Read the rest

I just got back from a meeting with Jay Footlik, and he may be the Jewiest congressional candidate we have seen in a long time.

Wearing a red “bendel” — otherwise known as a kabbalah string — around his wrist, Footlik met with me at a restaurant a couple of doors down from his campaign headquarters in Highland Park and ran down his Jewish credentials.

He grew up in the uber Jewish neighborhood of Skokie, studied the Middle East/Israeli-Arab conflict at UCLA, and was tapped by Bill Clinton as his liaison to the Jewish community. After the Clinton White House expired, he was on a speaking tour of Jewish organizations, when Shimon Peres asked him to work for a think tank he was starting. He lived in Israel for four years, in the Tel Aviv neighborhood of Bazel, and met and married an Israeli.

Two days after Footlik and his wife were married, John Kerry tapped him as his liaison to the Jews. “Short honeymoon,” Footlik joked at lunch.

Sure, the restaurant was treif. But Footlik, who had the sniffles, ordered a chicken soup. “It just sounds perfect right now,” he told the waiter. Read the rest

Jay Footlik just sent out an e-mail with a joint endorsement letter signed by Dennis Ross, Martin Indyk, Richard Holbrooke, Jim Rosapepe and Marc Ginsberg. Read the rest

Jacob Berkman reports that Dan Seals has landed the endorsement of the Highland Park News. Apparently the editors over there don’t like Jay Footlik’s sense of humor (click here to see the offending ad):

His opponent Footlik has served as special assistant to President Clinton on domestic and foreign policy issues, and as a senior adviser on the Middle East for the Kerry/Edwards campaign in 2004.

But the Footlik campaign’s release of a flyer to Jewish residents poking fun at Footlik’s Jewish background raises questions about his judgment in the serious business of running for Congress against a strong incumbent in the fall. His lack of name recognition and regular party support also presents doubts about his ability to be a real challenge to Kirk in November.

If you can take your eyes off of the presidential race for a few minutes … JTA’s Jacob Berkman is on the road in Chicago to provide some coverage for a very interesting, little noticed congressional primary. The Democratic race pits Dan Seals, a local up-and-comer, against Jay Footlik, a veteran of the Clinton administration and the Kerry campaign who focused on Middle East issues and outreach to the Jewish community.

To boot, the incumbent, Mark Kirk, commands support from many pro-Israel donors across the country who view his a staunch ally of Jerusalem.

Seals almost beat him in 2006, so people assumed there would be a rematch this year. But Footlik decided to head back to his home state and challenge Seals in the Dem primary. He boasts big-name endorsements and financial support from out-of-state Jews.

Here’s Jacob’s first dispatch (more to come after his interview with Footlik today and a second debate tonight) … Read the rest