refusal to drum columnist/candidate
Pat Buchanan out of the party.
This week, those same leaders were
privately pleased that Bush, far ahead
in the polls, is keeping the biggest
Christian right organization at arm's
length.
At the Christian Coalition's Road to
Victory conference over the weekend,
Bush was the first Republican con-
tender in years to stick to his standard
stump speech without adding the fire-
and-brimstone elements that have been
the order of.the day at coalition con-
ferences.
Despite that, Bush emerged from
the conference as the clear choice of
founder Pat Robertson and many of
the delegates, who are tired of backing
losers.
"He's so secure in getting the nomi-
nation that he's free to stay in the cen-
ter," said presidential historian Allan J.
Lichtman of American University.
"There's absolutely no electoral logic
for him to move to the right. Because
of his lead and his money, he can work
now to position himself for the general
election." That won't help him with
Jewish voters, who are likely to
remember Bush's refusal last week to
repudiate Buchanan, said Lichtman,
who added that Bush's refusal was "a
terrible mistake that will haunt him. It
made him look like a moral midget,
and it won't be forgotten by Jewish
voters."
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the
strongest GOP dark horse in the presi-
dential race, was the only GOP candi-
date who declined the coalition's invi-
tation.
Columnist-turned-candidate
Buchanan was scheduled to appear on
Saturday but bailed out as he moved
closer to a Reform Party candidacy,
which coalition officials oppose.

Anti-Abortion Measure

With the Christian Coalition in town
— and its leaders blasting the
Republican Congress for not following
through on its promises to the reli-
gious conservatives - Washington law-
makers took some time from the all-
consuming budget mud wrestling
match to advance a little piece of anti-
abortion legislation that could have big
consequences.
The Unborn Victims of Violence
Act doesn't seek to prevent abortions;
instead, it zeros in on those who injure
or cause the death of a fetus during the
commission of certain federal crimes.
But pro-choice activists in the
Jewish community say that's just a
clever way of establishing in law the

idea that life begins at conception —
the first step in making abortion ille-
gal.
"The backers claim it wouldn't
impede abortion," said Sammie
Moshenberg, Washington director for
the National Council of Jewish
Women. "But it is clearly designed to
set a legal precedent for personhood
beginning at conception. That's very
troubling to us." NCJW and several
other Jewish groups are urging the
Senate to reject the measure.

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No Newt, No Israel Aid

Pro-Israel lobbyists have complained in
recent weeks that the Clinton adminis-
tration has not offered a focused strate-
gy for getting Congress to approve
$1.9 billion in extra aid to fulfill the
commitments Washington made as
part of last year's Wye River agreement.
But veteran Mideast observers say
the fault lies with a Republican leader-
ship that has refused to insulate the
extra aid package — including $1.2
billion to help Israel with the high
costs of new withdrawals — from a
bitterly partisan budget battle.
In recent years, Congress was always
quick to find money for Israel no mat-
ter how dire the budgetary pressures.
"What's missing is [former House
Speaker] Newt Gingrich," said a long-
time pro-Israel lobbyist. "Even before
he was speaker, his strong commitment
to Israel and to an active foreign policy
could break through budget politics."

Hate Crimes Cross-Fire

The probable Senate candidacy of
Hillary Rodham Clinton in New York
and the 2000 presidential races are fig-
uring into the strategies of backers of a
new hate crimes bill supported by
most Jewish organizations.
The new bill, which would expand
the categories of victims covered under
existing hate crimes statutes and make
it easier for federal authorities to inves-
tigate and prosecute local cases in
which hate was a motive, is bogged
down in one of a slew of big appropri-
ations bills that have gridlocked
Congress.
The Senate passed the measure as
part of the State-Commerce-Justice
appropriations bill; the House did not.
Now, groups such as the Anti-
Defamation League are pressing con-
ferees to include it in the final version.
But there may be no final version as
the Republican Congress and the
Democratic administration fight a war
of attrition over budget numbers that
just won't add up. Fl

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Detroit Jewish News

10/8
1999

29