June 26, 2009 5:15 PM
- Text
Jewish Voters Lean Toward Clinton
(The Politico)
This story was written by Ben Smith.
Eight years ago, in her first campaign for the Senate, Hillary Rodham Clinton was scrambling to put out fires with a troublesome local minority: Jewish voters.
Now, she's emerged as the candidate with the bulk of establishment Jewish support as the presidential campaign moves to Nevada, home to Las Vegas and the fastest-growing Jewish community in the country.
Clinton, whose embrace of the wife of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in 1999 made the front pages of the New York Post, won her Senate seat despite receiving fewer votes from Jewish voters than the norm for a Democrat, her aides say.
She spent the next six years winning the trust of the hawkish leadership of New York's Jewish community.
Her record, as well as an impressive roster of key endorsements, leaves her well positioned to win the Jewish vote in Nevada's Jan. 19 caucuses and in the Jewish centers of New York, New Jersey and California on Feb. 5. Sen. Barack Obama has also pressed hard for Jewish support, winning the endorsements of influential Jewish members of Congress.
But he has been forced to wage, through surrogates, a defense of his record in the face of a viral e-mail smear campaign.
"It's really a matter of a longtime relationship versus a new face, and there's not a lot of dramatic difference between [Clinton and Obama] on the issues that are critical to the community," said Douglas Bloomfield, a former legislative director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
"There's also a right-wing assault on him that part of the Jewish community is involved in or at least passing along."
A survey last November conducted by the American Jewish Committee found that 53 percent of Jews view Clinton favorably, compared to 38 percent for both Obama and Edwards.
Clinton spent her Senate term taking a hard line on Israeli security and working diligently on low-profile issues of concern to the community's leadership: She helped win international recognition for the Israeli equivalent of the Red Cross and fought anti-Semitism in Palestinian textbooks.
"Like so many other once skeptical constituencies, Hillary Rodham Clinton has won over Jewish voters," said New York Democratic Rep. Anthony D. Weiner, who has endorsed her. "She is the favorite of the community now."
Both her campaign and Obama's have focused on Jewish community leaders with a steady stream of e-mails and conference calls that has accelerated recently.
"The Jewish vote is an increasingly important component of the bottom line as you approach Super Tuesday," said Clinton adviser Ann Lewis.
Obama has, in some ways, started down the same course that Clinton did. In the Senate, he proved his pro-Israel bona fides by, among other moves, backing Israel's side of the 2006 war with the Lebanese group Hezbollah.
He has the support of prominent Jewish members of Congress, including Reps. Robert Wexler of Florida, Adam B. Schiff of California and Steve Rothman of New Jersey.
Clinton's larger number of Jewish congressional supporters includes Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley of Nevada and nearly a dozen members from California and New York.
"Like many other segments of the American community, Jewish Americans see him as a unifying figure with the intellect and skill to make change," said Rothman.
But Obama has also stumbled a bit: At one point in a late-night speech to AIPAC, he appeared to equate the risks to Israel from terrorism with those from "cynicism."
And he's drawn some substantive criticism, notably for taking on Carter administration national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski as his national security adviser.
Brzezinski has clashed with pro-Israel groups since the 1970s. An Obama adviser said Brzezinski advises the candidate only on Iraq.
Obama has been the subject of a storm of viral e-mails tht seem to have gained particular currency in Jewish political circles.
One characterizes Obama, who is Christian, as a sort of crypto-Muslim Manchurian candidate.
It has reportedly appeared in Hebrew translation, as well as in a more widely circulated English version.
Another e-mail, circulating in New York Jewish circles, holds the fact that he studied at Columbia University - "a hotbed of controversial, Middle Eastern studies teachers" - against him.
"There is a scurrilous e-mail campaign going on. I'll continually get e-mails from my father, who lives in Florida, that were sent to him, with wild accusations," said Schiff.
"Every time someone sends me one of those e-mails, I'll send them a copy of Obama's positions on Israel or his speech to AIPAC, and they'll send it to the same list," he said.
"We're trying to meet it very forcefully," Schiff said.
Obama's efforts have been aided in some of the quarters most given to alarm. Tuesday, Obama issued a statement "strongly condemn[ing] the anti-Semitic statements made by Minister [Louis] Farrakhan," after a Washington Post column noted that Obama's Chicago pastor had praised the Nation of Islam leader.
"When someone close to a political figure shows sympathy and support for an individual who makes his name espousing bigotry, that political figure needs to distance himself from that decision. Sen. Obama has done just that," Anti-Defamation League President Abraham Foxman said in response.
Foxman was one of several Jewish leaders across the political spectrum who signed an open letter Tuesday denouncing "hateful e-mails" directed at Obama.
The fiercely pro-Israel New York Sun has also gone out of its way to lend support to Obama.
"He has chosen to put himself on the record in terms that Israel's friends in America, at least those not motivated by pure political partisanship, can warmly welcome," the paper wrote, in an editorial promptly and widely circulated by Obama's campaign.
By Ben Smith
Eight years ago, in her first campaign for the Senate, Hillary Rodham Clinton was scrambling to put out fires with a troublesome local minority: Jewish voters.
Now, she's emerged as the candidate with the bulk of establishment Jewish support as the presidential campaign moves to Nevada, home to Las Vegas and the fastest-growing Jewish community in the country.
Clinton, whose embrace of the wife of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in 1999 made the front pages of the New York Post, won her Senate seat despite receiving fewer votes from Jewish voters than the norm for a Democrat, her aides say.
She spent the next six years winning the trust of the hawkish leadership of New York's Jewish community.
Her record, as well as an impressive roster of key endorsements, leaves her well positioned to win the Jewish vote in Nevada's Jan. 19 caucuses and in the Jewish centers of New York, New Jersey and California on Feb. 5. Sen. Barack Obama has also pressed hard for Jewish support, winning the endorsements of influential Jewish members of Congress.
But he has been forced to wage, through surrogates, a defense of his record in the face of a viral e-mail smear campaign.
"It's really a matter of a longtime relationship versus a new face, and there's not a lot of dramatic difference between [Clinton and Obama] on the issues that are critical to the community," said Douglas Bloomfield, a former legislative director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
"There's also a right-wing assault on him that part of the Jewish community is involved in or at least passing along."
A survey last November conducted by the American Jewish Committee found that 53 percent of Jews view Clinton favorably, compared to 38 percent for both Obama and Edwards.
Clinton spent her Senate term taking a hard line on Israeli security and working diligently on low-profile issues of concern to the community's leadership: She helped win international recognition for the Israeli equivalent of the Red Cross and fought anti-Semitism in Palestinian textbooks.
"Like so many other once skeptical constituencies, Hillary Rodham Clinton has won over Jewish voters," said New York Democratic Rep. Anthony D. Weiner, who has endorsed her. "She is the favorite of the community now."
Both her campaign and Obama's have focused on Jewish community leaders with a steady stream of e-mails and conference calls that has accelerated recently.
"The Jewish vote is an increasingly important component of the bottom line as you approach Super Tuesday," said Clinton adviser Ann Lewis.
Obama has, in some ways, started down the same course that Clinton did. In the Senate, he proved his pro-Israel bona fides by, among other moves, backing Israel's side of the 2006 war with the Lebanese group Hezbollah.
He has the support of prominent Jewish members of Congress, including Reps. Robert Wexler of Florida, Adam B. Schiff of California and Steve Rothman of New Jersey.
Clinton's larger number of Jewish congressional supporters includes Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley of Nevada and nearly a dozen members from California and New York.
"Like many other segments of the American community, Jewish Americans see him as a unifying figure with the intellect and skill to make change," said Rothman.
But Obama has also stumbled a bit: At one point in a late-night speech to AIPAC, he appeared to equate the risks to Israel from terrorism with those from "cynicism."
And he's drawn some substantive criticism, notably for taking on Carter administration national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski as his national security adviser.
Brzezinski has clashed with pro-Israel groups since the 1970s. An Obama adviser said Brzezinski advises the candidate only on Iraq.
Obama has been the subject of a storm of viral e-mails tht seem to have gained particular currency in Jewish political circles.
One characterizes Obama, who is Christian, as a sort of crypto-Muslim Manchurian candidate.
It has reportedly appeared in Hebrew translation, as well as in a more widely circulated English version.
Another e-mail, circulating in New York Jewish circles, holds the fact that he studied at Columbia University - "a hotbed of controversial, Middle Eastern studies teachers" - against him.
"There is a scurrilous e-mail campaign going on. I'll continually get e-mails from my father, who lives in Florida, that were sent to him, with wild accusations," said Schiff.
"Every time someone sends me one of those e-mails, I'll send them a copy of Obama's positions on Israel or his speech to AIPAC, and they'll send it to the same list," he said.
"We're trying to meet it very forcefully," Schiff said.
Obama's efforts have been aided in some of the quarters most given to alarm. Tuesday, Obama issued a statement "strongly condemn[ing] the anti-Semitic statements made by Minister [Louis] Farrakhan," after a Washington Post column noted that Obama's Chicago pastor had praised the Nation of Islam leader.
"When someone close to a political figure shows sympathy and support for an individual who makes his name espousing bigotry, that political figure needs to distance himself from that decision. Sen. Obama has done just that," Anti-Defamation League President Abraham Foxman said in response.
Foxman was one of several Jewish leaders across the political spectrum who signed an open letter Tuesday denouncing "hateful e-mails" directed at Obama.
The fiercely pro-Israel New York Sun has also gone out of its way to lend support to Obama.
"He has chosen to put himself on the record in terms that Israel's friends in America, at least those not motivated by pure political partisanship, can warmly welcome," the paper wrote, in an editorial promptly and widely circulated by Obama's campaign.
By Ben Smith
-
Kevin Hechtkopf Kevin Hechtkopf is CBSNews.com's politics editor.
Follow on Twitter »
Popular Now in Politics
- CPAC: Will Sarah Palin spring a surprise?
- Sarah Palin revs up CPAC faithful
- Mitt Romney wins Maine GOP caucuses
- Romney takes on hecklers at Maine town hall
- CPAC: Anti-Obama beats pro-Romney
- Ann Coulter riles up the CPAC crowd
- Romney on Obama: I will "knock him on his heels"
- Mitt Romney wins CPAC straw poll
- Gov. Jindal prepping for national stage
- Occupy protestors kicked out of CPAC
- Immigration speaker sparks controversy at CPAC
- Santorum donor in the spotlight
- What Does 'GOP' Stand For?
- Santorum infers straw poll-rigging at CPAC
- Timothy Dolan: Birth control tweak a "first step"
- Health Care Bill: What's In It?
- After uproar, Obama tweaks birth control rule
Latest CBS News Headlines
on Facebook Most Discussed Stories
on CBS News
- Pakistan top court charges PM with contempt
- Taliban announce death of ex-defense minister
- AT&T customers surprised by 'unlimited data' limit
- Vodafone eyes bid for Cable & Wireless Worldwide
on Facebook Most Discussed Stories
on CBS News
