April/May 1992, Page 14

Election Watch

Contests Clarify As Candidates Dwindle Down

By Lucille Barnes

Despite Arkansas Governor William Clinton's non-service in the Vietnam War, the Genifer affair, allegations concerning his wife Hillary's law firm and the state of Arkansas, and the revelation of marijuana experimentation when he was a Rhodes scholar in England, Clinton still holds a tenuous lead in the race for the Democratic nomination to face incumbent Republican President George Bush in November.

In the early stages of the Democratic primary campaign, Clinton supported unconditional U.S. loan guarantees for Israel, but chose his words more carefully about the peace process. His caution on many matters cooled as the campaign heated up, and before he dropped out of the race, former Senator Paul Tsongas took to calling Clinton "pander bear." Whenever television viewers saw Clinton wearing a yarmulka for his nightly campaign sound bite, they found out why. He is the Israel lobby's anointed candidate, and has been from the moment New York Governor Mario Cuomo decided not to file for the New Hampshire primaries.

With Israel's media supporters charging that Bush has unleashed "perfidious WASPs" in the Pentagon and the State Department to leak damaging information about Israel, and that Secretary of State James Baker has dismissed the Jewish vote with an undeleted expletive, no one has to be told why leaders of U.S. Jewish organizations are organizing get-out-the-vote campaigns aimed at younger Jews.

"There are not clear statistics, but from what we have been seeing there is an across-the-board decline," according to Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. "The trends we're worrying about reflect the general society. More and more, in all kinds of sociological issues, Jews are becoming part and parcel of American life."

"We have to work on this structurally," Saperstein is quoted as saying in James David Besser's Inside Washington column in the March 19 Jewish Week of Queens, NY. "Every synagogue has to ensure that every kid who turns 18 is registered to vote. There has to be help getting people in the congregation to the polls. College kids have to be encouraged to use absentee ballots."

The same Besser column also raised a discreet SOS for badly needed campaign donations in recognition of "the tireless efforts of Sen. Bob Kasten (R-WI) on behalf of the guarantees." Noting that a "leading pro-Israel activist here. . . calls Kasten a true hero," Besser continues:

"In recent weeks Kasten has privately chastised Jewish groups for not being aggressive enough on his loan guarantee legislation. What's remarkable about Kasten's efforts is the fact that he is currently locked in a ferocious race for re-election in Wisconsin." Just in case any well-heeled reader of The Jewish Week still doesn't get it, Besser concludes:

"Kasten's fund-raising has been sluggish in recent months; his strong advocacy for loan guarantees for Israel could help attract Jewish contributors." Kasten, who has received more than $180,000 from pro-Israel PACs over the past 12 years, will be facing Republican Rep. Jim Moody in November. Moody, too, has been a favorite of pro-Israel PACs, having received $45,350 from them since 1986. The only difference is that Kasten's appropriations committee assignment makes him especially valuable to AIPAC.

Sen. Timothy E. Wirth (D-CO), who has received more than $155,650 from pro-Israel PACs, is getting a great deal of support for his re-election campaign this year from national Jewish organizations. The Washington Post reported Jan. 12 that more than 200 Jewish Democrats visited the Colorado governor's mansion to open a state chapter of the National Jewish Democratic Council, an organization created to carry out Jewish grass-roots activities in support of Democrats "who support a social and political agenda that is beneficial to Jewish-and Israeli-interests."

Perils of House Redistricting

With all incumbent members of Congress uneasy because of voter disgust with Congress, there is particular unease among representatives of states that have lost congressional seats, or which have been ordered to redistrict in order to assure better representation of Blacks or Hispanics.

One result of Michigan redistricting could throw Rep. Sander M. Levin, a Jewish Democrat who has taken $5,500 from pro-Israel PACs, into a contest with Democratic Rep. David Bonior, who, although he has taken $10,500 from pro-Israel PACs in the past, was a major target of pro-Israel groups which tried to thwart his successful campaign to become House whip. If it happens, the Israel lobby will support Levin.

Another campaign of interest to the pro-Israel lobby is that of Ben Waldman, former executive director of the conservative National Jewish Coalition, who ran unopposed in the West Virginia Republican primary. He will challenge incumbent Democratic Rep. Nick Joe Rahall, an Arab-American who has often been critical of Israel. Rahall has been heavily targeted by pro-Israel groups all over the U.S. The campaign will be a test of the power of the pro-Israel PACs.