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Which Clinton Will It Be?

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soft money and the growing use of "independent expen-
ditures" by interest groups and labor unions have made
a mockery of earlier reform efforts, and made politicians
from both parties even more beholden to big-money in-
terests.
But don't look for too much reform; the clamor for
change always dies down when legislators are sworn in
and begin thinking about how to fill their treasuries for
the next campaigns.
Mr. Clinton mostly opted out of the campaign finance
debate during his first four years; now, he has an oppor-
tunity to use his new status as a second-term president
to guide the nation in a serious, fair-minded effort that
will take into account the needs of political minorities,
but also slow down the auctioning off of American democ-
racy.
Mr. Clinton's lame-duck status also gives him an op-
portunity to offer genuine leadership in slowing the move
toward bitter factionalization in the nation.
Immigrant bashing has become a bipartisan norm in
politics; scapegoating welfare recipients and foreigners
was a major element in this year's welfare debate. The
battle over affirmative action, a legitimate issue, has been
overlaid with outright racism. There are David Dukes all
over the country, hoping to
crawl out of their dark corners
and into the political main-
stream.
In his first term, President
Clinton was reluctant to con-
front many of these forces;
sometimes, as in the welfare
bill, he lent his power and pres-
tige to the forces of division.
Now, with no more elections
in his future and the history
books waiting to write the final,
summarizing chapter on his
presidency, Mr. Clinton has a
unique opportunity to confront
head-on the greatest threat to
American democracy — the
growing fragmentation of the
nation along racial, ethnic, re- Binyamin Netanyahu will
be on the receiving end of
ligious and economic lines.
"We need to really push the more U.S. pressure on
peace talks.
president on using his bully pul-
pit to send the message that we
are all Americans," said Lynn
Lyss, a former chair of the National Jewish Community
Relations Advisory Council and a top Clinton-Gore vol-
unteer. "We need to stop the Balkanization of this coun-
try; President Clinton will be in a unique position to begin
that process."
But only if the president chooses to make that a pri-
ority during his upcoming second term. ❑

He Fit The Bill

President Clinton snares 03 percent of the Jewish vote,
as Jewish incumbents in Congress retain seats.

JAMES D. BESSER WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT

resident Bill Clinton scored a stunning per-
sonal victory on Tuesday in his quest to be-
come the first Democratic president elected
two full terms since Franklin Roosevelt,
and he won a near-record majority of the
Jewish vote. But his failure to sweep in a
Democratic Congress put a damper on the
celebrations and set the stage for continuing battles over
a host of legislative issues that top the Jewish commu-
nity's political agenda.
That, in turn, is likely to intensify the administration's
focus on foreign policy, and on the Middle East peace talks
in particular.
"The results on Tuesday suggest domestic
gridlock," said Johns Hopkins University polit-
ical scientist Benjamin Ginsberg. "So_we can ex-
pect that President Clinton will attempt to make
his mark on history in the area of foreign rela-
tions — which means there will be a lot more
pressure on the Middle East."
A week before the elections, Jewish Republi-
cans were privately predicting that their can-
didate, former Sen. Bob Dole, was in for a
thrashing. Tuesday's returns confirmed the ac-
curacy of their forecasts.
Mr. Clinton's 50-41 percent win was the al-
most inevitable result of a strong economy, a
lack of major foreign policy crises and a weak
GOP candidate, Professor Ginsberg said.
"Dole's loss reflected the fact that his vision
is almost entirely the vision of the United States
Senate," he said. "More than anything else, his
defeat demonstrates how divorced the 'inside the Belt-
way' vision is from the concerns and the perceptions of
people around the country. When Dole had to go out and
campaign in front of people, he didn't know what to do."
Sen. Dole, with a spotty record on Israel and a GOP
platform crafted by the Christian Right, gave Jews few
reasons to change their traditional allegiance to the De-
mocrats, Professor Ginsberg said — especially because
of Bill Clinton's strongly pro-Israel record.
On domestic issues, Sen. Dole turned off Jewish vot-
ers as he shifted rightward to match the mood of his par-
ty, according to Jennifer Laszlo, a top Democratic
consultant.

III

"The Jewish community is very sensitive to issues like
immigration and civil rights," she said. "Dole came down
hard on the wrong side of these issues during the last
weeks of the campaign, after a long and positive record
in the Senate; in doing that, he hurt himself badly with
Jewish voters."
In fact, the American Jewish Congress exit poll indi-
cated that the Clinton-Gore ticket won some 83 percent
of Jewish voters nationwide, with only 13 percent se-
lecting the Dole-Kemp team. Last week, some Jewish
Republicans were privately saying that they at least hoped
Dole would top George Bush's 15 percent of the Jewish
vote.
'Despite years of effort, the Republicans have not seen
a larger percentage of Jews supporting their candidates,"
said Martin Hochbaum, the American Jewish Congress
political scientist who coordinated Tuesday's exit polling.
`The results were pretty consistent throughout the coun-
try; the news was not good for Jewish Republicans."

Seeking Status-Quo

In congressional races, voters seemed to indicate that
despite all the controversy over the 104th Congress, they
liked things the way they were.
"This was a status-quo election," said Republican poll-
ster Ed Miller. "People went with known chbices, both at
the presidential and congressional levels. This is a Con-
gress that has accomplished many things that people like;
voters obviously weren't interested in too much change."
The Republicans picked up two seats in the Senate,
but — based on incomplete returns — may have come up
11 short in the House.
It was a good night for Jewish incumbents, a bad dream
for Jewish challengers. Pro-Israel legislators fared well
across the nation, but conservative Republicans also had
a good night, setting the stage for new battles domesti-
cally.
In Senate races, four Jewish challengers — Jill Dock-
ing, a Democrat in Kansas, and Republicans Nancy May-
er in Rhode Island, Rep. Dick Zimmer in New Jersey and
former Sen. Rudy Boschwitz in Minnesota — came up
short.
In Minnesota, a state where Jews comprise less than
1 percent of the population, Mr. Boschwitz lost to Sen.

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A week, before the elections, Jewish Republicans were privately

predicting that their candidate was in for a thrashing. 59

