Toe-To-Toe
Now that the primaries are finished, some congressional races
will be heating up.
A
HARRY KIRS BAUM
Stair Writer
fter a relatively easy primary election that
pitted incumbents against relative
unknowns, the real race starts in earnest.
U.S. Rep Joe Knollenberg, R-
Bloomfield Hills, will face off against Democratic
challenger David Fink of West Bloomfield in the
Nov. 5 general election for the new 9th
Congressional District seat.
Knollenberg, a U.S. representative
since 1993, beat Ban Baron, a Troy
managmeent consultant, in the Aug.
6 primary, 87 percent to 13 percent.
Fink ran unopposed, but still
campaigned heavily.
"We've been running a disci-
plined campaign for some time
now," said Fink, a Birmingham
David Fink
attorney. "Now that the primary
is over, this campaign will
become more aggressive on both sides, I'm sure."
Fink said he hopes the campaign keeps on the
high road.
"While Joe Knollenberg and I agree on the impor-
tance of the State of Israel, we disagree on so many
social issues," he said, citing a woman's right to choose,
protecting Social Security from privatization plans and
the importance of reasonable gun safety measures.
"I hope that this campaign will be about the val-
ues of our community and who can best represent
those values in Washington."
Fink approaches the general campaign — and the
$150,000, two-year term — with a war chest of
close to $1 million.
Knollenberg has raised about $1.275 million so
far. He is taking his opponent seriously "on the basis
of the money that he has raised and the idea that he
is able to spend money from his own wealth," he
think people really want to hear about that."
In another local race, U.S. Rep. Sander Levin, D-
Royal Oak, a congressman since 1982, will run
against Republican challenger, attorney Harvey
Dean of Warren, in the newly drawn 12th District.
Dean won with 42.8 percent against Republican
opponents Charles Frangie of Clinton Township and
Jamie Morgan of Ferndale.
Levin won with 79 percent against state Rep.
William Callahan of St. Clair Shores and Mario
Fundaro of Roseville.
Callahan came under fire last month when he told
the Associated Press he was more representative of the
redrawn, heavily Catholic 12th District, and that a
Jewish lawmaker might not be a good demographic fit.
Sander's brother, four-term U.S. Sen. Carl Levin,
D-Mich., will run for re-election against Andrew
"Rocky" Raczkowski, a six-year state representative
in the 37th District of Farmington Hills. Both ran
unopposed in the primary.
The Jewish News will profile the candidates in all
three races next month. ❑
Governor's Race
Rep. Knollenberg Rep. Levin
Sen. Levin
said. "We had eight or nine days of solid campaign-
ing in a variety of places right before the primary, so
were hitting every corner we can."
Knollenberg said he also wants to stick to the high
road.
"It can be a campaign without smear, without
negativity," he said. "We're going to strive in our
best possible way to discuss the issues, because I
After a hotly contested primary, Democratic
Michigan Attorney General Jennifer Granholm
will face off against Republican. Michigan Lt.
Gov. Dick Posthumus for the seat at the head of
the table in Lansing. Vote counts are unofficial.
Granholm, with 48 percent, beat U.S. Rep.
David Bonior of Mt. Clemens with 28 per-
cent, and former Michigan governor James
Blanchard with 24 percent in the Democratic
primary. Posthumus beat Michigan Rep. Joe
Schwarz of Battle Creek on the Republican
side, 81 percent to 19 percent.
Both nominees have actively courted the
Jewish vote and have active Jewish support.
`Gaza First' Plan
Israel proposes plan put forward amid wave of Palestinian terrorism.
NAOMI SEGAL
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Jerusalem
new proposal currently under
consideration might bring
Israel and the Palestinians
back from the brink.
On Wednesday, the Palestinian
Authority Cabinet gave preliminary
approval to the plan, pending further
talks between the two sides.
Under the plan, Israeli soldiers
would withdraw from parts of the
Gaza Strip and from the West Bank
city of Bethlehem in exchange for
Palestinian guarantees that no attacks
8/ 9
2002
16
would be launched from these areas.
Further withdrawals would take place
if peace holds in the first areas.
Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-
Eliezer presented the "Gaza First" plan
during a meeting with Palestinian offi-
cials earlier in the week.
The latest developments came as a
delegation of Palestinian officials left
the region Wednesday for talks with
Secretary of State Colin Powell in
Washington. They also came amid a
week of continued Palestinian terror.
That left Israeli officials caught
between two seemingly contradictory
considerations. On the one hand, they
want to prevent future attacks. At the
same time, they want to avoid harm-
ing — or being accused of harming —
the Palestinian population at large.
With attacks being launched on a
near-daily basis, the first consideration
appeared to be gaining the upper hand.
On Wednesday, as part of continued
military efforts to crack down on ter-
rorism, Israeli forces killed at least six
Palestinians in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip.
Soldiers killed four Palestinian gun-
men during a clash in the West Bank
city of Tulkarm. Palestinian residents
said one of those killed was a local
militia leader.
In Gaza, an Israeli sniper killed
Hussam Hamdan, 27, a senior
Hamas member. Earlier Wednesday,
a Palestinian policeman was killed
when Israeli troops and tanks briefly
entered northern Gaza in a search for
terrorists.
Earlier in the week, Israel
announced a ban on Palestinian travel
in much of the West Bank.
Monday's move came in response to
an onslauaht–of-Palestinian terror a
day earlier that killed 13 people.
Under the ban, Palestinians cannot
drive in the northern half of the West
Bank, between the cities of Nablus,
Jenin, Kalkilya, Tulkarm and
Ramallah, the army said. Some move-
ment will be permitted in the south-
ern West Bank, including the cities of
Hebron, Bethlehem and Jericho.
Israel also sealed off a large portion
of the southern Gaza Strip on
GAZA on page 18