Democrats worried about inroads made by Republicans in Jewish vote
By Anthony Man
Staff writer
sun-sentinel.com
October 11, 2004
Jewish Democratic leaders in Palm Beach County are worried.
They are increasingly concerned that Republicans and the Bush administration have done such a good job of marketing themselves to Jewish voters that the once-reliable bloc of Democratic votes could go in a big way toward the president's re-election.
With 22 days until Election Day, Democrats are scrambling to undo gains Republicans have made among Jews.
"It's a very big problem," said Sylvia Wolfe-Herman, a vice president of the United South County Democratic Club. "We no longer have the bloc vote."
The situation has attracted the attention of John Kerry's presidential campaign, which has deployed Charles Glick, from the Democrat's home state of Massachusetts, to serve as director of Jewish outreach for South Florida.
"The Republicans have made major inroads with respect to Jewish voters," he told Democrats at a Palm Beach County party meeting last week. "If they get 40 percent, it would be devastating. If they get 30 percent they could win the election. We need to keep them under 20 percent."
Sid Dinerstein predicted President Bush would take one-third of the Jewish vote in Palm Beach County. He's the chairman of the county Republican Party, and for year's he's been pushing Bush to Jewish voters.
He said the Democrats have reason to be concerned, and said it involves far more than his party's and the president's ability to market themselves.
"They're scared to death," Dinerstein said. "From their perspective they should be scared because enough Jewish people have finally said, `You know what? This is serious. This isn't about who's paying for your prescription drugs.'"
Both sides agree Israel is the main reason for the weakening of Jewish support for Democrats. The Bush administration has strongly supported Israeli government actions and has aggressively courted the Jewish vote. Some are unsure about Kerry.
"They have to lie to say that Kerry is as good as Bush [on Israel]," Dinerstein said.
Untrue, said Florida Senate Minority Leader Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton.
"That's a misinformation campaign by the Republicans," he said, adding that Kerry has a 100 percent rating from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the influential pro-Israel lobbying organization.
Bush's support of Israel doesn't make Kerry any less of a supporter, Klein said.
Although Dinerstein considers Israel vitally important, he said it's not the only reason for an erosion of Jewish support for Democrats.
He said it's a long-term phenomenon obscured in 2000 because the Democratic vice presidential nominee, U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, was an Orthodox Jew.
"The Lieberman thing obscured a long-term trend," he said.
Jews younger than the retirees who live in Palm Beach County condominium communities don't have the same allegiance of their parents and grandparents, religiously conservative Jews are more inclined to vote Republican and more affluent Jews are increasingly turning Republican, according to Dinerstein.
Wolfe-Herman said she is concerned about the effects on the Kerry campaign and that Democratic leaders' response hasn't come until "the 12th hour."
The party and Kerry campaign are responding in small ways and large.
At Thursday night's meeting of the county's Democratic Executive Committee, a corner of the sign-in table was piled high with Kerry buttons that included a Star of David.
The buttons shared space with a stack of glossy fliers from the National Jewish Democratic Council.
The front shows a picture of Bush clasping the hand of Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.
The back shows Kerry shaking hands with Lieberman.
And Kerry surrogates are flooding the region.
A week ago, U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, appeared with Alan Dershowitz, the famed Harvard University law professor, in Boca Raton and Delray Beach.
This weekend, Glick said, dozens of Jewish Democrats are coming in from Kerry's home state. U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., is due this week, and U.S. Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., the only Holocaust survivor to serve in Congress, is coming soon.
Glick said plans to put those visitors wherever they can shore up a Jewish voter's support for Kerry.
Dinerstein said Republicans wouldn't let the Democratic line go unchallenged. "We're doing it seven days a week," he said.
Last week, former New York Mayor Ed Koch was in Palm Beach County to whip up Jewish voters on behalf of Bush, and attracted hundreds to his speech.
Democrats brought in their own non-Florida Jewish celebrity last week: Jon Bauman.
He was "Bowzer," the singer dressed in black as the doo-wop group Sha Na Na sang 1950s hits during the '60s through the early '80s.
Bauman's solo act tours nationally.
He cleared his schedule to spend October in South Florida on behalf of Kerry.
"I'm Jewish, which is kind of a qualification because you understand the issues involving Israel," he said.
"My notoriety gives me a shred of advantage in getting some attention," he said.
Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sun-sentinel.com or 561-832-2905.
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