Kerry considers running mates

RON KAMPEAS and
MATTHEW E. BERGER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

• Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.):
  
  Biden, 61, is well known in the Jewish world, having served for more than 30 years in the Senate. The former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Biden has been an outspoken backer of Israel.
  
  He is a tough advocate of Israel's right to defend itself but also is an outspoken critic of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's failure to freeze settlement building in the West Bank, saying it has done Israel more harm than good.
  
  Biden has been tough on the Bush administration, suggesting it has not been engaged sufficiently in the Middle East and did not do enough to aid Mahmoud Abbas during his brief tenure as Palestinian Authority prime minister.
  
  
• Gen. Wesley Clark:
  
  Clark's candidacy in the Democratic primaries generated excitement among American Jews, both because of the pride and the interest Clark took in his discovery that his father was Jewish and because of the familiarity he showed with Israel's security needs.
  
  The former NATO commander referred to Israeli generals on a first-name basis and parsed the differences among them on how to defend the Jewish state. Clark was able to raise $1 million in a single even-ing from a New York Jewish audience, and he was one of the few candidates to hire a full-time Jewish outreach official early in the season.
  
  Clark also listened closely to Jewish supporters when it came to forging domestic policies on abortion and on assistance to the poor and elderly.
  
  Clark, 59, has successfully negotiated peace, in Bosnia, and prosecuted war, in Kosovo. Significantly, his gut-level empathy for Israel means he received little grief for taking exactly the same position on Israeli-Palestinian peace as did Kerry - one that envisions a more multilateral approach to peace brokering.
  
  
• Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.):
  
  Edwards' greatest strength among Jewish voters may be that he has never really needed their support.
  
  North Car-olina's Jewish community is small and lacks the influence of larger communities, and the trial lawyer's 1998 run for the Senate was largely self-financed. Yet North Carolina Jews give Edwards high marks for reaching out to them and listening to their concerns.
  
  Edwards, 51, sought advice from the pro-Israel community when he earned a spot on the Senate Intelligence Committee. He visited Israel with committee colleagues in 2001 and was there when a suicide bomber attacked a Sbarro's restaurant in downtown Jerusalem.
  
  
• Rep. Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.):
  
  Gephardt tearfully announced his retirement from politics after losing in the Iowa caucuses in January, disappointing many Jews in Missouri and elsewhere.
  
  Gephardt, 63, had a strong pro-Israel record after arriving in Congress in 1977 and through his career as the Democratic leader in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1989-2002. He was the highest-ranking congressional official to speak at an April 15, 2002, solidarity rally for Israel at the Capitol.
  
  On domestic issues, Gep-hardt's lead on health care issues earns him kudos from Jewish voters. He also gets points from Jewish civil rights groups for helping push through hate-crimes legislation.
  
  Jews in Gephardt's hometown of St. Louis credit him with keeping close ties to the community, meeting its leaders for brunch three or four times a year and taking an early lead on Soviet Jewry issues in the 1980s.
  
  His popularity with working-class voters also could help with another key constituency in some battleground states: Arab Americans.
  
  Gephardt's blue-collar credentials earned him a warm welcome at an Arab American Institute conference in Michigan in October, despite the fact that he had among the strongest pro-Israel records of any candidate there and hardly mentioned foreign policy in his speech.
  
  
• Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.):
  
  Graham received a great deal of Jewish support in his home state when he ran for president last year.
  
  As a governor and senator, Graham actively supported Israel, a political necessity given Florida's significant Jewish population. He frequently has spoken out in Israel's defense on the Senate floor.
  
  He accuses the Bush administration of failing to pay enough attention to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan as breeding grounds for terrorism, a message Democrats know resonates with Jewish voters who otherwise give Bush high marks on security.
  
  Graham recently has pressured the administration to take a tougher stance against Syria's support for terrorist organizations in Lebanon.
  
  
• Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.):
  
  Like Graham, Nelson, 61, has won rave reviews from Florida's Jewish community. Though he has been in the Senate only four years, the former astronaut has gained a reputation as an advocate for Jewish community priorities, specifically social issues.
  
  Amy Dean, chairwoman of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, praised both Florida lawmakers, saying they have worked to gain appropriations for Florida's Jewish community, and she noted that Nelson has signed on to pro-Israel resolutions in the Senate.
  
  Nelson could offer Kerry a lift in Florida, a crucial battleground state; however, the freshman senator has suggested he would prefer to defer the vice presidency to Graham.
  
  
• Gov. Bill Richardson (D-N.M.):
  
  Richardson, 56, would be an obvious pick for Kerry if he believes that it's crucial to stem Republican inroads into the predominantly pro-Democratic Hispanic community.
  
  Richardson, who before his 2002 election as New Mexico governor served as a congressman and Cabinet officer, is the nation's most prominent Hispanic politician. He is to chair next month's Democratic Party convention.
  
  Richardson also could help Kerry make inroads into the Jewish community: Pro-Israel lobbyists in Washington praise him for his performance as U.N. ambassador from 1997 to 1998. They recall an instance in which Richardson suspended a Security Council debate to fly to Washington for a briefing with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's executive committee.
  
  As energy secretary from 1998-2000, Richardson expanded scientific cooperation with Israel; as governor, he directed New Mexico's recent purchase of $10 million in Israeli government bonds.
  
  Richardson also was a friend on domestic issues, Jewish officials say.
  
  Richardson could bolster Kerry's foreign policy credentials. A four-time nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize, Richardson is the only Clinton-era Democrat the Bush administration has turned to for diplomatic help, notably on the issue of North Korean nuclear weapons.
  
  
• Gov. Tom Vilsack (D-Iowa):
  
  Iowa's small Jewish community has nothing but good things to say about Vilsack. Back-and-forths at Des Moines' Tifereth Israel synagogue are a must-do for Iowa candidates, and Vilsack always gets a warm reception - to the extent that in 2002 the Des Moines Register called the venue "potentially hostile" to Republicans.
  
  That's because Vilsack has been hands-on with the 6,000-strong Jewish community, according to Paulee Lipsman, a Jewish Democrat and a senior staffer in the state legislature.
  
  Vilsack, 53, exempted Holocaust survivors from state taxes on recovered insurance funds and has issued a proclamation each Yom Hashoah, attending ceremonies on some occasions. Such dedication to Holocaust remembrance is significant in a state where Holocaust deniers have made some inroads in rural areas, according to local Jewish officials.
  
  Lipsman says Vilsack jibes with local Jews on domestic issues, a plus in a state where the Republican-dominated legislature trends conservative.
  
  That's true on Israel, too - not surprising for the governor of a Midwestern state that has little business with the Middle East.