Secretary of State James Baker's famous
outburst dismissing the Jewish vote with
a harsh expletive.
Mr. Kemp was also a major player in
congressional efforts to ease the lot of Jews
trapped in the former Soviet Union. His
unsuccessful campaign for the Republican
presidential nomination in 1988 drew sig-
nificant support from Jewish Republicans.
"He was marked early on as a favorite,"
said a top Jewish Republican. "There was
always the feeling that this was the man
who could break down the Jewish com-
munity's archaic allegiance to the Democ-
rats."
Jews, this activist said, are becoming
more fiscally conservative. At the same
time, many are uneasy about the rise of
the Christian right, a segment that now
dominates the Republican Party, and about
what many regard as the party's punitive
approach to the nation's poor and its harsh

Jack Kemp "is seen as a

businessmen to set in motion investment
programs intended to bolster the experi-
ment in Palestinian self-rule.
The 48-year-old second-generation politi-
cian also was a Senate leader in the fight
against nuclear and ballistic missile pro-
liferation, a key issue for activists con-
cerned about Israel's survival in a changing
world.
Mr. Gore's pro-Israel education was not
as easy as Mr. Kemp's, according to sev-
eral pro-Israel leaders.
His Tennessee district, which he repre-
sented in the House from 1976 to 1984, in-
cluded few Jewish voters; his father, Sen.
Albert Gore Sr., was regarded by some pro-
Israel leaders as untrustworthy.
"A lot of us worked hard to make him [a]
good friend," Rabbi Bronner said. "For ex-
ample, I brought him to Boro Park [New
York] twice in 1988; that's a very good ed-
ucation on the Jewish community."

consentaiive with compassion,

nomics," said a longtime Jewish Democrat
who is working for the Clinton-Gore effort.
"That's not entirely accurate. With the ex-
ception of affirmative action and liberal
immigration laws, which he supported un-
til he was named the vice presidential nom-
inee, he buys into most of the Christian
right agenda, including things like prayer
in schools. He really is a very conservative
guy. Gore, as a moderate Democrat, is
much more in sync with the mainstream
Jewish community on the domestic side."
They also argue that Mr. Kemp is being
kept on a short leash by Dole campaign
strategists, and that he has to run on a Re-
publican platform that reads like a Chris-
tian Coalition manifesto.
They point to Mr. Kemp's instant about-
face on affirmative action and immigra-
tion to conform to official GOP doctrine;
if Mr. Kemp was willing to do a flip on
these core issues, they ask, might he do the
same on Israel in a Dole administration?
But other observers say that Mr. Kemp's
presence on the ticket
will have a significant
impact on Jewish voters
who have drifted toward
the Republican Party,
but have been put off by
both the ascent of the
Christian right and by
Mr. Dole's record on Israel. That impact
could be particularly strong in the Ortho-
dox community, according to Mandell
Ganchrow, president of the Union of Or-
thodox Jewish Congregations of America
and a longtime political fund-raiser.
"If you look at the Orthodox communi-
ty in recent elections, it was that group that
put Giuliani, Pataki and D'Amato over the
top," he said, referring to recent statewide
victories by New York Republicans.
`There are a lot of Jews in the Orthodox
community who have a tendency to vote
Republican, but who have been concerned
about Dole's spotty record; Kemp's selec-
tion will make them feel more confident
with their choice."
Many Orthodox voters, he said, share
the Republicans' conservative positions on
abortion, school choice and "family values"
issues, but worry about how those issues
have been monopolized by Christian right
extremists.
For these voters, he said, Mr. Kemp is
a comfortable alternative who reflects their
basic values without the extremist bag-
gage.
Mr. Kemp's nomination means that the
Republican presidential effort will center
on the issues of tax cuts and economic
growth, according to Marshall Breger, a
professor at the Catholic University of
America law school who served as the of-
ficial White House liaison to the Jewish
community in the Reagan White House.
Not surprisingly, Mr. Breger is an ardent
Republican.

and that made him a possible breakthrough candidate for the Republican Party

THE DETROIT J EWIS H NEWS

in the Jewish community."

18

— A top Jewish Republican

- stance toward minorities.
"The domestic conservatives like the
Christian Coalition scare the hell out of
them," he said. "Jack Kemp, more than
anybody else in the party, was identified
as a fiscal conservative who didn't share
the Christian right's agenda. And he's seen
as a conservative with compassion, and
that made him a possible breakthrough
candidate for the Republican Party in the
Jewish community."
Al Gore, in his eight years in the Senate
and four terms in the House before that,
played a different kind of role.
"He wasn't on the important commit-
tees, in terms of aid to Israel and foreign
policy," said Rabbi Jacob Bronner, an offi-
cial with the Belzer Chasidim in New York
and a veteran lobbyist for the pro-Israel
cause who claims Mr. Kemp and Mr. Gore
as personal friends.
"His importance has been primarily be-
cause of his outspokenness, and because
of the personal relationships he developed
over the years with Israeli leaders."
Mr. Gore played a quiet role in promot-
ing a variety of U.S.-Israeli joint military
and scientific projects, Rabbi Bronner said
— something he continued to do as vice
president. On the day of the dramatic first
handshake between Palestine Liberation
Organization leader Yassir Arafat and late
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Mr.
Gore met with Jewish and Arab-American

That was a pivotal year in Mr. Gore's
pro-Israel development. Jewish De-
mocrats, alarmed by the rise of Jesse
Jackson in the party and unenthusiastic
about Massachusetts Gov. Michael
Dukakis, moved in significant numbers to
Mr. Gore's camp after the first few pri-
maries.
Mr. Gore attracted support from "Scoop
Jackson Democrats," including many Jews,
who worried that the Rev. Jackson and Mr.
Dukakis were dragging the party too far
to the left and ignoring national security
issues. More than any other Democrat, he
was able to project a centrist image with-
out alienating the party's liberal wing.
The New York primary was considered
a must-win for Mr. Gore; in the weeks be-
fore the vote, his team heaped attention
on the Jewish community, one of the most
cohesive voting blocs in the state.
Mr. Gore failed to stop Mr. Dukakis, but
the connections he forged with the Jewish
leadership during the New York campaign
persist.

Orthodox leanings

Already, there are indications that both of
these adopted favorite-son candidates for
vice president will focus heavily on Jewish
voters.
Jewish Democrats have wasted no time
trying to identify Mr. Kemp with the reli-
gious right cause.
`The popular image is that Mr. Kemp's
conservatism is strictly in terms of eco-

