This chart in the Columbus Dispatch on a breakdown of the governor’s race is really interesting and confirms something I have heard gossiped about here and there.
The White House has been courting hard American Jewish voters and attempting to tether them to the Republican fundraising and voting machines by prodding them with high-fear political drama surrounding Israel.
This tactic was crudely clear when Bush and Cheney shoved the John Bolton confirmation process forward again in the middle of Israel’s messy counter-attack against Hezbollah forces in Lebanon. Shortly after Bolton’s nomination was dusted off, U.S. Senators began getting phone calls arguing that “a vote against Bolton was a vote against Israel.”
AIPAC’s and the American Jewish Committee’s strident foreign policy positions that have mostly hugged the Bush-Cheney gang while sneering at both moderate Republicans and Democrats (other than Joe Lieberman, Schumer and Ben Nelson) seem out of sync with Jewish voters.
While Jewish voting participation in the country is a rather small percentage of total voting, political giving by the American Jewish community is extremely consequential.
But what is heartening to see is that of the 27 registered self-identified Jewish voters in this poll (out of 1,541 total voters), all 27 of them, 100%, favor Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ted Strickland over Republican J. Kenneth Blackwell.
Overall, Strickland leads Blackwell 67% to 31%. Remarkable on a lot of fronts.
Let’s see what those voting machines say this time around.
— Steve Clemons
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