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Lesia Batschynsky and Mark Liss take In election results Tuesday night.

Backing The Democrats

Informal polling shows Oakland Jews supported Clinton.

KIMBERLY LIFTON, LESLEY PEARL and SUSAN KNOPPOW

nne Frank doesn't
talk much politics
with the other elec-
tion precinct workers
at Bloomfield Township's
Brother Rice High School.
She is a Democrat in a
historically Republican dis-
trict where her old-line lib-
eral views differ even from
those of her husband,
George Frank, who regular-
ly votes Republican.
Though she is in the mi-
nority in her precinct, Anne
Frank was not alone among
- Oakland County's Jewish
voters in this year's presi-
dential election.
In an early morning, non-
scientific Jewish News poll
of 60 Jewish voters from

Huntington Woods on the
east to Farmington Hills
and West Bloomfield on the
west, Bill Clinton won a
landslide victory with 73
percent of those polled.
President George Bush
secured 21 percent, and
Texas billionaire Ross Per-
ot carried 6 percent.
The same poll shows U.S.
Rep. Sander Levin easily
winning the Jewish vote (18
of 20 votes) in the newly
drawn 12th Congressional
District, and Democrat Wal-
ter Briggs, who lost the race
to GOP candidate Joe Knol-
lenberg, securing 22 of 32
votes cast by the respon-
dents.
Mr. Knollenberg secured

8 of the 40 prospective Jew-
ish votes; 10 respondents
said they did not like either
candidate and opted not to
cast ballots in this congres-
sional race.
For most, Jewish issues,
such as Israel, took a back
seat to the recession-
plagued economy and their
perception of a need for a
leadership change. Several
Reagan Democrats, who
cast 1988 ballots for Bush-
Quayle, switched their vot-
ing allegiances this year to
Clinton-Gore.
Those who voted Democ-
ratic stressed the need for a
comprehensive health care
program and a pro-choice
BACKING / page 28

Jews, now more than
ever, must help the Repub-
lican party.
"We can't turn this party
over to extremists," he said.
"Jews can not abandon this
party." After television
evangelist Pat Robertson's
1988 presidential primary
campaign, this wing of the
GOP — estimated now at 50
percent of the party's base —
has worked around-the-clock
throughout the country to
build a political machine.
Without publicizing their
agendas, they run for local,
state and school board races.
School boards appear to be
their favorite targets. As
Ralph Reed, Mr. Robertson's
former campaign political di-
rector, told the New York
Times, "We should have been
focusing on the states. The
real battles of concerns to
Christians are in the neigh-
borhoods, school boards, city
councils and state legisla-
tures."
One GOP activist, who re-
quested anonymity, suggest-
ed that Amercian Jews may
be in for a tough time.
"The most violent battle for
the hearts and minds of the
Republican party is this re-
ligious right, which is putting
a guerilla campaign into ed-
ucation and wants prayer in
the schools," the activist said.
In addition to the battle
over Christmas in the schools,
Ms. Nathan is worried about
Gov. John Engler's school of
choice plan, which she said
most likely will lead to state-
funded vouchers.
If implemented, such a
plan could be used to finance
private school education. She
calls this a violation of the
Constitutional separation of
church and state.
"This threatens to divide
the Jewish community," Ms.
Nathan said. "It didn't mat-
ter who won the presidency.
We have lots of work to do in
Michigan."
Dick Lobenthal, Michigan
regional director for the Anti-
Defamation League, has been
talking about the religious
right for years. He calls it

"neo-fascism." He lectures on
it. He is scared of it.
"A Bush win or loss
wouldn't change the evangel-
ical right agenda for 1996,
when Pat Buchanan (conser-
vative commentator) is ex-
pected to make a bid for
president," Mr. Lobenthal
said. "They are positioning
themselves to take over the
party.
"This election could be a
turning point for the religious
right," Mr. Lobenthal said.
"You really need to under-
stand they have a fundamen-
tally different and undemo-
cratic goal for American soci-
ety. It has to do with privacy
and imposing their religion
upon American society."
Mr. Lobenthal cautioned
this is not a partisan issue for
the Jewish community.
"Their issues are that we
need their prayer in schools,
and abortion is murder," he
said. "They frame the issue of
abortion as murdering babies
and not as their religion ril-
ing the country."
Ms. Nathan intends to
keep working. TORCH no
longer exists, but its sup-
porters are still visible at
school board meetings. On
Wednesday, she discussed
her fears at a parent-teacher
organization meeting. She
hopes the movement will fiz-
zle, and she believes it may
be cyclical.
"I remember my mother
fighting a similar battle in the
1970s in Southfield with the
John Birch Society," she said.
"Then it went away for a
while."
Still, she said, the Jewish
community needs to pull it-
self together.
"We must keep talking, get-
ting the word out," she said.
"They want a God-centered
curriculum. They believe sec-
ular humanism is the reason
for teen suicide, abortion and
drug abuse."
Added Mr. Lobenthal,
"Jews cross party lines all the
time to agree that Israel must
be protected. This is just as
crucial."

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