May the New Year
bring to all our friends
and family
health, joy, prosperity and
everything good in life.

Rosh Hashanah

2011
5772

world

Democrats' Obama Outreach
Starting With Fellow Democrats

Sandy & Andy Dubin
Sammy Dubin

May the coming year be filled with
health and happiness for all our family and friends.
I2Shanah Tovah!

Marc Stanley, standing, the chairman of the National Jewish Democratic

Council, with Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the minority leader in the U.S. House of

Representatives, and NJDC President David Harris at a Washington fly-in for

top NJDC activists on Sept. 8.

Jodi and Kevin Neff
Adam, Allison, Emily and Zack
Ask_

Ron Kampeas

JTA

T

LILLY M. AND COM PA N

Estate and Household/Sales and Appraisals

Lilly & Trying Meisner
Wishes their family, friends & the community a
Happy, Healthy & Prosperous New Year!

(248) 263 I. 1104

May the coming year be filled with
health and happiness for all our family and friends.
L'Shanah Tovah!

Alan & Linda Kristall
Brian Kristall
Rob & Jennifer Cohon & family

A1F

56 September 22 • 2011

1705300

Washington
he Democratic Party's out-
reach to Jewish voters is
beginning at home, with pep
talks in recent and coming weeks
scheduled for top donors and Jewish
lawmakers.
Insiders acknowledged to JTA that
they have to explain Obama's record
on Israel to the very foot soldiers
expected to push the president's mes-
sage out to the community.
"We've got a lot of work on these
things to do',' said a top campaign
official, who spoke on condition of
anonymity because of how sensitive
Jewish outreach has become. "On
Israel, we have to get our message out:'
To that end, Rep. Debbie
Wasserman-Schultz, D-Fla., the chair-
woman of the Democratic National
Committee, arranged a meeting last
week for about a dozen Jewish law-
makers with Vice President Joe Biden.
The National Jewish Democratic
Council last week flew in activists to
meet with top congressional officials,
including House Minority Leader
Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
This week, the Obama campaign is
planning its third call this summer to
Jewish party activists and sympathiz-
ers, and the DNC is planning to release
an informational sheet on Obama's

Israel record in advance of Rosh
Hashanah.
"A lot of people have said we were
not aggressive enough in the past:'
said a party activist who is familiar
with the informational sheet, which
was discussed at a recent meeting
of the DNC's finance committee in
Chicago.
Last week's meeting with Biden
and a dozen or so Jewish lawmakers
from both the House and the Senate
was part of the effort to chart a new
course.
The meeting was so sensitive that
participants would speak of it only
in the most general terms, and only
one, Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., — who
himself has been critical of aspects of
Obama's approach to Israel — agreed
to be identified.
Biden was chosen to make the pitch
in part because of his long record of
closeness to Israel, meeting partici-
pants said.
"He's a special person. He's smart
and hardworking, he knows the issues,
he's a very good friend of Israel," Engel
told JTA. "It's always an honor to talk
with him."
Choosing Biden to make the pitch,
however, underscored the president's
problem: The vice president has the
better reputation on Israel.
"His knowledge is encyclopedic, his
passion is genuine, his kishkes (guts)
are real when it comes to fighting for
Israel," said a congressman who was

Democrats on page 58