|
|
August 27, 2004/Elul 10 5763, Vol. 55, No. 49
Bush targets Kerry's Jewish support
MATTHEW E. BERGER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
WASHINGTON - Repub-lican Jews believe they can sell their party and their candidate this year on more than just a pro-Israel record.
President Bush's support for Israel is at the heart of Republican courting of the Jewish vote, but the party also is stressing other facets of Bush's leadership in the international community.
They're also attacking Bush's opponent, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), for an alleged lack of leadership, and - in a change of strategy - are delving into domestic policy.
With the nation's attention soon to focus on the Re-publican National Conven-tion in New York later this month, Jewish Republicans are hoping to highlight Bush administration actions they think could swing Jewish voters to the GOP.
Some recent polling shows that Republican inroads into the Jewish vote are minimal so far, yet strategists say they're intent on attacking what they see as weaknesses in Kerry's record and in his outreach to the Jewish com-munity.
When Republicans first started talking about making inroads into the traditionally Democratic Jewish voting bloc, party leaders said they would focus on the positives of Bush's record, rather than attacking Kerry.
Marc Racicot, chairman of the Bush/Cheney campaign, told JTA in March that he did not believe Kerry was weak on Israel, and that the campaign would focus instead on comparing the candidates' defense and security records.
But Republican Jewish officials said they began to see Kerry as potentially vulnerable in the Jewish community after his per-formance in front of the Anti-Defamation League in May - Kerry's only major speech to a Jewish audience so far in the campaign - and believed the Democrats were not actively trying to court Jewish voters.
"The ADL speech was totally underwhelming," one Jewish Republican said. "It showed his strategy was to move closer to the president and hold the base he already has."
That analysis has led to an increased effort by Republican Jews. In addition to highlighting Bush's support for Israel, their appeal to Jewish voters has centered on the administration's leader-ship against terrorism, Bush's efforts against global anti-Semitism and his leadership in volatile times.
By contrast, they portray Kerry as someone who has not led on Middle East issues, and - customizing their broad "flip-flopper" argument for a Jewish audience - say he has taken contradictory stances on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The campaign appears to be testing different anti-Kerry messages, with a variety of results. Jewish voters continue to be concerned by a statement Kerry made during the Democratic primaries sug-gesting that former Presi-dent Jimmy Carter or former Secretary of State James Baker could serve as envoys to the Middle East. Both men are seen in the Jewish community as being biased toward the Pale-stinians, and are deeply unpopular among sup-porters of Israel.
Kerry since has stepped back from that proposal, and aides have suggested privately that the comments were entered accidentally into his speech.
It's unclear to what extent Bush's strategy is working, however. Republican Jews continue to stress anecdotal evidence that more Jews are coming to their side, and the Republican Jewish Coali-tion says its membership has grown from 3,000 people in 2002 to 10,000 this year.
|
|
