18
Friday, November 2, 1984
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
ELECTION '84
LEVIN VS.
LOUSMA
Will a Jewish freshman win a
sophomore term, or will he be
unseated by a high-flying
ex-astronaut?
BY ALAN ABRAMS
Special to The Jewish News
Had anyone asked young
Carl Levin what he wanted
to be when he was growing
up in Detroit's old Dexter-
Davison neighborhood in
the late 1940s, the last
thing he would have
thought of saying was
Michigan's first Jewish
United States Senator.
"My father was a
lawyer," said Levin, "and
my uncles were lawyers, so
I wanted to be a lawyer too.
Maybe a teacher. Secretly,
maybe a rabbi," he added
with a smile.
"I was always happy
doing whatever I was do-
ing," Levin remembers.
"My brother Sandy (now
United States Representa-
tive from Michigan's 17th
District), who is my closest
friend as well as my
brother, ran for the State
Senate and I was his cam-
paign manager the first
time. But I felt one politi-
cian was enough in the fam-
ily. I didn't want a career in
politics and I didn't particu-
larly need it. I just sort of
drifted into it after the 1967
Detroit riot."
Indeed, it was Levin's
election to the Detroit City
Council in 1969 which
launched him on the road to
the hallowed chambers of
the U.S. Senate. Levin was
re-elected to the Council in
1973 and served as Council
president. In 1978, Levin
defeated incumbent U.S.
Senator Robert P. Griffin
(now a Republican candi-
date for the Supreme Court
of Michigan) and this year
faces a challenge from
former astronaut Jack
Lousma.
The campaign has been
fairly lackluster, if not
downright boring, except
for a non-issue raised by
Lousma early in the cam-
paign. To Lousma's credit,
the matter has not surfaced
again, but many voters
were concerned over Lous-
ma's statement that Levin
was for a strong Israel and
a weak America" while
Lousma favored "a strong
Israel and a strong
America."
"Well, I don't know how
strong he is on Israel," says
Levin, "I'll just have to as-
sume that he really is and I
won't challenge it at the
moment, but his juxtaposi-
tion of that with his position
on defense — saying that I
was for a weak America —
was totally out of place. I'm.
for just as strong an
Senator Carl Levin is running hard to clinch a second term.
America as he is. I just don't
think we're going to get
there by building
thousands of nuclear
warheads, particularly the
destabilizing kind that the
MX represents which
threaten our survival
rather than add to our secu-
rity.
"If he wants to argue
whether or not he's for a
stronger America than I
am, fine, I'll be happy to join
in debate with him and I
won't give him an inch on
that argument because I'm
for just as strong an
America as he is. What I'm
not for is a wasteful defense
program that spends $9,000
on an Allen wrench.
"One of
reasons that I
believe so deeply in Israel
and its importance to the
United States is exactly be-
cause I'm for a strong
America. Because with Is-
rael we've got one strategic
ally in the Middle East that
we can rely upon consis-
tently. Not only is she (Is-
rael) democratic, she's reli-
able.
"I know the importance of
having an ally there be-
cause I know someday we
may have to get our troops
over to the Persian Gulf. We
made a commitment that if
the Soviets move into Iran
we will respond with mili-
tary force if necessary, but
how the heck are we going
to get them (our troops)
there? And how are we
going to sustain them once
we get them there? You've
got to have allies. You've
got to be able to preposition
equipment. This is serious
business. This isn't (like)
those nuclear war games
which are madness. This is
the real military world and
the question is how do you
move troops, personnel and
material? You've got to
preposition it somewhere,
and where are we going to
preposition it? Israel has of-
fered. The Saudis won't
offer it. So I don't mind
Lousma making a speech
about my being for a strong
Israel. He's right — but I
think it relates to Israel's
security and to America's
too."
Levin is seriously con-
cerned about official
American attitudes
towards Israel. He believes
that "our policy towards Is-
rael has been erratic, not
only under this Adminis-
tration, but under recent
administrations. This Ad-