JTA: The Global News Service of the Jewish People

JTA VIDEO: The final day

By Ami Eden · August 29, 2008

Eric Fingerhut attends a session on MLK, Obama and black-Jewish relations. Ron Kampeas checks out an event with Obama foreign policy advisers and then interviews a Chinese convert to Judaism running for Congress.

0 Comments | Share This | Barack Obama, Congressional races, Democratic convention, JTA Video, Presidential Race

A public thanks for NJDC

By Eric Fingerhut · August 27, 2008

Less than three weeks after overcoming an anti-Semitic advertisement from his opponent to win his Democratic primary election in Memphis, Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) requested the floor Monday at a National Jewish Democratic Council event in Denver to thank the organization for its assistance.

“Ira and NJDC were very helpful,” said Cohen, referring to NJDC executive director Ira Forman at the group’s seminar on the vote seminar. “I had a lot of help from people from NJDC.”

Cohen is the only white representative to represent a majority African American district in the House of Representatives, and said his huge 79-19 win was “a tribute to the voters of Memphis.” His opponent ran an ad in the last days of the campaign suggesting that his Judaism made him an outsider in the district.

“For people who tell me African Americans and Jews have problems – they don’t in Memphis,” said Cohen, earning a big round of applause.

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Ellison on blacks and Jews, Al Franken and the platform

By Ron Kampeas · August 26, 2008

We just spoke with U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), the first Muslim elected to Congress - we’ll post the video later this evening soon.

Ellison talked about how he worked with Jewish supporters in his Minneapolis district to get elected in 2006, and how that could translate into a nationwide model for Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).

He also spoke about his get-out-the vote efforts for Al Franken, the comedian/talkshow host attempting to unseat Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) (both candidates are Jewish).

Ellison noted that Franken is catching up with Coleman in recent polling. “The momentum is with Al Franken,” he said. “We’re going to make Al a senator.”

More substantially, Ellison differed with his party – and its presidential candidate – on tough language in the platform on Iran, which talks about keeping “all options on the table” in attempting to get the Islamic Republic to stand down from its suspected nuclear weapons program.

“When you explicitly say the military option is on the table it’s like saying, ‘Let’s negotiate, but this Colt 45 is gonna be sitting here just in case the conversation doesn’t stay right’,” Ellison said. “I don’t think that the implied threat of force is necessary.  I hope the Obama administration understands that peace is wrapped up not ultimately in military solutions but in trying to make parties come together.”

Ellison says the United States should draw its example from Israel, which is actively pursuing peace talks on multiple fronts.

“Israel itself is saying our security cannot be exclusively wrapped up in military options.”

0 Comments | Share This | Al Franken, Congressional races, Democratic convention, Norm Coleman

Is it really all about McCain in the Jewish community?

By Eric Fingerhut · August 26, 2008

A panel of pollsters and pundits at Monday’s National Jewish Democratic Council “Jewish Vote Seminar” agreed that Barack Obama is underperforming among Jewish voters compared to recent historical standards – just 61-62 percent in recent polls of Jewish voters, in contrast to the 75 percent and above that Democrats have won among Jews in the last four presidential elections. But while most commentary in recent months has attributed the difference to a variety of factors involving Obama – from not being well known enough in the Jewish community to e-mails spreading false rumors about his religious background – two members of the panel had a different explanation: Jews just like John McCain more than most other Republicans.

“McCain’s appeal is personal,” said Stuart Rothenberg, a columnist for Roll Call and editor of the non-partisan Rothenberg Political Report. “John McCain is not as scary to people as certain Republicans.” He added that he’d be surprised if there was any change in the Jewish vote in congressional races from 2006, where Democrats received 86 percent of Jewish support.

Richard Baehr, a writer for the conservative American Thinker Web site, agreed. “It’s more McCain being viewed positively than Obama being viewed negatively,” he said, noting that the Arizonan “doesn’t wear Christian conservatism on his sleeve.” Baehr also pointed out that Hillary Clinton was receiving just 66 percent in polls last spring, even though they were no questions about her among American Jews.

Their theory was vehemently disputed by South Florida Jewish Democrats in the audience as well as by Democratic pollster Anna Greenberg. “For the overall electorate, not just Jewish voters, this election is mostly a referendum about Barack Obama,” she said.

The way to combat Jewish affection of McCain, said Democratic pollster Mark Mellman, is for Democrats to make the community more aware of the GOP candidate’s conservative issues on social issues such as abortion rights.

Jewish Democrats won’t have help from the media in getting that message out, though. Rothenberg said that while McCain may take conservative positions on social issues, “most of us [in the press] think McCain doesn’t care about that” and give him a free pass – believing issues of national security and foriegn policy are what really motivates the Republican. “It’s up to the Democrats to say here is his record,” said Rothenberg.

14 Comments | Share This | Barack Obama, Congressional races, Democratic convention, John McCain, Presidential Race

Political Tidbits: “It’s still iffy, which is freaking me out”

By Eric Fingerhut · August 22, 2008

• “It’s still iffy, which is freaking me out”: That, according to the New York Times, was what one Boca Raton precinct coordinator had to say about the attitude of some “lifelong Jewish Democrats” toward Barack Obama. The coordinator was attending a Hillary Clinton appearance for Obama in South Florida. More details on the rally in the Miami Herald.


• In a article entitled “The Shmegege Vote: 2008,” Susan Isaacs at The Huffington Post wonders how prejudice will affect Jews when they enter the voting booth.


• The Forward looks at the key Jewish behind-the-scenes players in the Obama campaign.


• The Forward also reports that historians and political observers believe Thursday will be the first time in political convention history that a rabbi gives an invocation before a presidential nominee acceptance speech.


• Rabbi Amy Schwartzman talks to the Washington Jewish Week about her participation in the Democratic National Convention’s interfaith gathering on Sunday.


• JTA looked in on the Democrats’ faith focus earlier this week, as did the the New York Jewish Week, with some finding the emphasis excessive.


• Daniel Burrell at The Huffington Post writes Obama should get tougher on Iran because it will help him with Jewish voters.


• Jim Besser at the New York Jewish Week says the McCain campaign seems to be taking tips from Mort Klein and the Zionist Organization of America in its attacks on Obama adviser Dan Kurtzer.


• Jay Michaelson, writing in the Forward, suggests that treating Israel as the pre-eminent “Jewish issue” of the campaign may be bad for Judaism.


• The blind rabbi running for Congress, Dennis Shulman, is using a parody of “The Office” to attack opponent Scott Garrett over his ties to “Texas oilmen.”

6 Comments | Share This | AIPAC policy conference, Barack Obama, Congressional races, Democratic convention, Florida, hillary clinton, John McCain, Presidential Race, Tidbits

A “Frozen Chosen” congressman in Alaska?

By Eric Fingerhut · August 12, 2008

News on some congressional races to watch over the next few months:

Could we have a Jewish member of Congress from Alaska? Two weeks before the primary, it’s certainly not out of the question. A poll shows state represenative Ethan Berkowitz is looking pretty good in the race to be the Democratic nominee, and in the general election he is up by 15 points on scandal-plagued Republican incumbent Don Young. The polls show a much closer race, though, if Young is knocked off in the GOP primary by current Alaska Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell. The Cook Political Report rates the race a tossup.

Twenty-nine year-old Jewish Democrat Josh Segall has raised more money than any other Democratic challenger in the state of Alabama, although the incumbent in Alabama’s Third District, Mike Rogers, still has more money in the bank. That race is still rated likely Republican by Cook.

In the only U.S. Senate race in the country where two Jewish candidates will face off, incumbent Republican Norm Coleman and Democratic challenger Al Franken are battling over who can cut Iraq reconstruction funds more. Last week, Coleman proposed a cut of $1.1 billion because of Iraq’s big surplus due to oil and gas revenus. Franken raised the ante Monday, calling for $7.1 billion in funds to be rescinded and put towards repairing America’s infrastructure. That race is considered a tossup.

Finally, in the race to succeed retiring Rep. Jim Saxton (R-N.J.) in New Jersey’s Third District, Democratic state Sen. John Adler’s huge fundraising advantage–due to a rough Republican primary his opponent Chris Myers had to spend lots of money on–led CQ Politics to move the race from Leans Republican to No Clear Favorite. Cook also has the Cherry Hill district rated a tossup.

3 Comments | Share This | Al Franken, Congressional races, Featured, Minnesota, New Jersey, Uncategorized

Cohen beats Tinker

By Uriel Heilman · August 11, 2008

After Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) beat Democratic primary opponent Nikki Tinker in a landslide on Aug. 7 (read JTA’s story here), New York Times columnist Bob Herbert called it a victory against racism (in this case, against whites) and anti-Semitism:

In that Ninth Congressional District of Memphis, a district that is predominantly black in a city that has had its share of racial trouble — the city in which the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed — Mr. Cohen won an astonishing 80 percent of the vote, sweeping all demographic categories and destroying the disgusting (yes, stomach-turning) campaign of Nikki Tinker.

For the moment, at least, we can put the Pepto-Bismol aside and raise a glass of Champagne.

The voters in Mr. Cohen’s district rejected the Tinker tactics overwhelmingly, refusing to succumb to the blandishments of racism or anti-Semitism. Instead of abandoning their congressman, they rallied around him when the filth started coming his way.

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The day after Steve Cohen’s big win

By Eric Fingerhut · August 8, 2008

Rep. Steve Cohen’s (D-Tenn.) victory in yesterday’s Democratic congressional primary wasn’t necessarily a surprise, but his 60 percentage point margin of victory was unexpected–and perhaps a sign why his African-American opponent, Nikki Tinker, was desperate enough to run an ad deemed anti-Semitic by many observers.

First of all, if you never saw the ad, which portrayed Cohen as an outsider because of his Judaism, you can check it out here.

The Atlantic’s new blogger, Ta-nehisi Coates, argues that the advertisement was race-baiting, but doesn’t quite rise to the level of Jew-baiting. I’m not really buying the argument–when you combine the line about visiting “our churches” with the line “he’s the only senator who thought our kids shouldn’t be allowed to pray in school,” would the ad make sense against a white Christian candidate?

Coates also explores whether the Congressional Black Caucus should have allowed Cohen to join when he applied to be a member last year.

An interesting argument: If Cohen had lost, it would have been deemed a horrible day for black-Jewish relations? So shouldn’t his resounding win be seen as a really good day for black-Jewish relations?

A Nashville blogger calling herself “A Progressive Jew down in the Bible Belt” says the EMILY’s List endorsement of Tinker demonstrates that the feminist organization “may have outlived its purpose.”

And a religion blog argues that some of the media overlooked the religion angle in favor of playing up the race angle, and thus is missing part of the story.

13 Comments | Share This | Congressional races, Featured, Tennessee, Uncategorized

Obama wades into Black-Jewish tensions in Memphis

By Eric Fingerhut · August 7, 2008

Barack Obama today condemned a television advertisement that portrayed Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) as an outsider because of his Judaism, but Cohen’s campaign manager said he didn’t think the statement by the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee would make much of a difference as voters go to the polls today.

“These incendiary and personal attacks have no place in our politics,” Obama said in a statement, “and will do nothing to help the good people of Tennessee. It’s time to turn the page on a politics driven by negativity and division so that we can come together to lift up our communities and our country.”

Obama was referring to an ad run this week by Nikki Tinker, the African-American challenger to Cohen in the Memphis district. It charged that while Cohen visits “our churches, clapping his hands and tapping his feet ... he’s the only senator who thought our kids shouldn’t be allowed to pray in school,” referring to a 1997 vote Cohen made as a state senator. The ad concluded with the phrase “sometimes apologies just aren’t enough,” a reference to a resolution Cohen sponsored in the House of Representatives apologizing for slavery and the Jim Crow era which passed by voice vote last month. That ad followed a spot that began airing Friday which attacked the one-term incumbent for opposing the removal of a statue of a Klu Klux Klan leader from a Memphis park.

But Cohen campaign manager Jerry Austin said the Obama statement is “not going to affect” the race, because most voters either had already voted by the time it was released or are unlikely to hear about it before the polls close at 7 p.m.

Austin also noted that the Obama statement was not an endorsement and didn’t even specifically mention Cohen’s name.

“We’re going to win without any of this,” said Austin.

Cohen represents a majority-African-American district in Memphis, the area formerly represented by former Reps. Harold Ford Jr. and his father, Harold Ford Sr. He was a supporter of Obama during the primary and spoke on the senator’s behalf at a election panel at the Anti-Defamation League’s annual conference last spring.

The prayer ad also was condemned by Emily’s List, an organization which raises money for female candidates and had backed Tinker – although visitors to the group’s Web site on Thursday could still donate money to her campaign. In addition, Tinker was named “Worst Person in the World” by Keith Olbermann on Wednesday evening.

The Tinker campaign has since pulled the spot from YouTube.

The ad follows literature that was distributed in the district earlier this year by a Tinker supporter and minister which read “Cohen and the Jews HATE Jesus” and urged the defeat of an “opponent of Chist and Christianity.” Similar flyers from the same minister have circulated in the last few weeks.

2 Comments | Share This | Barack Obama, Congressional races, Featured

Run, rabbi, run

By Uriel Heilman · July 22, 2008

One of the more interesting congressional races this year is in New Jersey’s 5th district, where a blind rabbi named Dennis Shulman, a Democrat, is closing the gap against Republican incumbent Scott Garrett, who is known for being pro-Israel and for his conservative views.

Shulman, an ordained Reform rabbi with a Ph.D. in psychology from Harvard, has done a formidable job raising money for his run, Time magazine reports, and Congressional Quarterly recently upgraded Shulman’s chances, changing the district’s rating from “Safe Republican” to “Republican Favored.” The New Yorker’s Jeffrey Toobin offers a profile of the candidate in this week’s Talk of the Town.

Shulman has been endorsed by J Street, the new left-wing pro-Israel lobby, while Garrett remains a favorite of the more hawkish pro-Israel community.

9 Comments | Share This | Congressional races