Campaign Tactics

On the eve of the GOP convention, Republicans target Jewish voters.

MATTHEW E. BERGER

Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Washington
epublican Jews believe they can sell their party
and their candidate this year on more than just
a pro-Israel record. President Bush's support for
Israel is at the heart of Republican courting of the
Jewish vote, but the party also is stressing other facets
of Bush's leadership in the international community.
They're also attacking Bush's opponent, Sen. John
Kerry, D-Mass., for an alleged lack of leadership and
— in a change of strategy — are delving into domestic
policy. With the nation's attention focusing on the
Republican National Convention in New York next
week, Jewish Republicans are hoping to highlight Bush
administration actions they think could swing Jewish
voters to the GOP.
Some recent polling shows that Republican inroads
into the Jewish vote are minimal so far, yet strategists
are intent on attacking Kerry's record and his outreach
to the Jewish community.
When Republicans first started talking about making
inroads into the traditionally Democratic Jewish voting
bloc, party leaders said they would focus on the posi-
tives of Bush's record, rather than attacking Kerry. Marc
Racicot, chairman of the Bush/Cheney campaign, said
in March that he did not believe Kerry was weak on
Israel and that the campaign would focus instead on
comparing the candidates' defense and security records.
But Republican Jewish officials began to see Kerry as
potentially vulnerable in the Jewish community after
his performance in front of the Anti-Defamation
League in May — Kerry's only major speech to a
Jewish audience so far in the campaign — and believe
the Democrats were not actively trying to court Jewish

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voters.
They portray Kerry as someone
who has not led on Middle East
issues and — customizing their
broad "flip-flopper" argument for a
Jewish audience — say he has taken
contradictory stances on the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict.
"The message is, 'We don't know
where John Kerry really stands,"' said
Matthew Brooks, executive director
of the Republican Jewish Coalition.
The campaign appears to be test-
ing different anti-Kerry messages
with a variety of results. Some Jewish President Bush
voters continue to be concerned by a
statement Kerry made during the Democratic primar-
ies suggesting former President Jimmy Carter or former
Secretary of State James Baker could serve as envoys to
the Middle East. Both men are seen in the Jewish com-
munity as biased toward the Palestinians.
Kerry since has stepped back from that proposal and
aides have suggested privately that the comments were
entered accidentally into his speech.
The Bush camp also has had some success in under-
mining Kerry's stance on Israel's West Bank security
barrier. Kerry was critical of the fence in comments to
the Arab American Institute last summer but later clari-
fied his remarks.
Meanwhile, the White House has released a 24-page
booklet highlighting Bush's actions over the past four
years on issues of interest to Jews. The booklet lists all
of the times Bush met with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon, lit Chanukah candles at the White House and
spoke out against anti-Semitism:
It's unclear to what extent Bush's strategy is working,

Platform Due
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Washington/JTA
epublicans promise that a substantive, tough
party platform this year will present Jewish
voters with a sharp contrast from the relative-
ly scrawny Democratic document — but they may
find that delving into details could prove devilish.
The Bush campaign is emphasizing its adherence to
old-fashioned platform-writing techniques, going into
particulars yet leaving open an element of surprise by
allowing a platform committee to hash through the
proposed document on the eve of the convention.
That means the platform is more likely to approach
the 100-some pages of the GOP's 2000 version than
the svelte 37 pages of the Democrats' 2004 platform,
said Ginny Wolfe, one of the senior Republican plat-
form staffers. Going into such detail will help rein-
force President Bush's reputation as a friend to Israel,
but it carries risks for the president on domestic issues

8/27
2004

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where Republican views are less in line with those of
many American Jews.
Democrats, stung in the past by Republican accusa-
tions that they are divided and weak, wanted to avoid
the raucousness often associated with platform draft-
ing. At their convention last month, in Boston, they
sought to avoid issues that divide the party base,
focusing on unifying issues such as job creation,
health care and promotion of alternative forms of
energy.
The result is that the Democrats devote just 223
words to the Middle East, against the 1,000-plus
words the Republicans gave the issue in 2000 — and
which Wolfe suggests the GOP will match this year.
Also likely to make an appearance, Wolfe said, is
Bush's goal of a Palestinian state, the first such explicit
call by a U.S. president.
Such detail is likely to work for Bush in areas where

however. Republican Jews continue
to stress anecdotal evidence that
more Jews are coming to their side,
and the Republican Jewish Coalition
says its membership has grown from
3,000 people in 2002 to 10,000 this
year.
But Democrats contend the
Republican effort has been for
naught. In a recent poll, conducted
by a Democratic polling firm, only
22 percent of American Jews favored
Bush over Kerry, statistically even
with the number Bush received in
the 2000 presidential race.
At first, it seemed the White House
would virtually ignore domestic concerns when talking
to Jewish voters. But that policy is changing. The
White House booklet includes discussion of faith-based
initiatives and highlights the Seattle Hebrew Academy,
which received federal emergency relief aid after an
earthquake because of a change in federal regulations.
The goal is to prevent Jewish voters from automatically
dismissing Bush because of domestic issues, arguing
that Jews will be more likely to embrace the president if
they understand the motivations behind his policies.
Strategists contrast it to the Kerry campaign's efforts
to position Kerry as comparable to Bush on Israel and
the Middle East, hoping Jewish voters will move past
those issues to domestic topics, where they feel Kerry
will fare better.
Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., a key Jewish surro-
gate for the Bush campaign, said he believes Jews might
support Bush's stance on faith-based initiatives if they
understood it better. ❑

his administration is in accord with Jewish voters: For
instance, the length of the 2000 platform allowed
Republicans to slam not only Iranian extremism but
the persecution of Iranian Jews. That document also
repeated three times the party's commitment to main-
taining Israel's military edge over its Arab neighbors.
On the other hand, where Bush's record is less pop-
ular in the Jewish community, there's likely to be
some concern. For instance, the 2004 Democratic
platform mentions abortion only once, saying that
"abortion should be safe, legal and rare."
By contrast, the Republicans' 2000 platform men-
tions the topic eight times, using words like "infanti
cide" and "shocking." If this year's platform repeats
that language, it's unlikely to attract the vast majority
of Jewish voters who consistently favor reproductive
choice.

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