FOLLOW US ON...

CANDLELIGHTING

THE JEWISH VIEW

HOLIDAYS

JUDAISM 101

FEATURED JOBS
Post Your Resume

With the polls predicting a big Democratic night, the number of Jews in the U.S. Congress is likely to swell and Jewish GOPers could end up losing a few of their favorite lawmakers.
The Senate matchup in Minnesota between two Jewish candidates could end up determining whether Democrats acquire a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Incumbent Norm Coleman, one of only two Jewish Republicans in the Senate, is being challenged by Democrat Al Franken.
Democrats now have a 51-49 advantage in the Senate with the inclusion of independents Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Bernie Sanders of Vermont. But surveys suggest that by the end of voting on Nov. 4, enough seats will have changed hands to bring the Democrats close to 60 votes—the number at which the party could stop a Republican filibuster.
Should Democrats reach the magic mark, will Lieberman continue to caucus with them as an independent or end up on the GOP side of the aisle following his endorsement of presidential candidate John McCain?
In the House, the Democrats’ 236-199 advantage is expected to expand, which is likely to add to the total of 29 Jewish lawmakers whose re-election bids are looking strong.
Only three of the 13 Jewish members of the Senate are up for re-election: Coleman, and Democrats Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey and Carl Levin of Michigan. Levin is expected to win his sixth term handily against Jack Hoogendyk Jr., a Republican three-term state representative.
What follows is a look at some of the more important and interesting races featuring Jewish candidates.


Minnesota
“I don’t think Minnesota is ready for a gentile in this seat.”
That’s comedian Al Franken’s standard joke about the fact that the U.S. Senate seat in Minnesota for which he’s running has been occupied by a Jew for the past 30 years. That streak should continue another six years with Franken, a Jewish Democrat, running 5 to 6 percentage points ahead of the Jewish first-term incumbent, Republican Norm Coleman, in recent polls. According to the surveys, a non-Jewish independent candidate, Dean Barkley, has been receiving 15-20 percent of the vote.
Coleman, a former mayor of St. Paul, and Franken have clashed over issues. Franken supported a quick U.S. pullout from Iraq, while Coleman has opposed a firm timetable for withdrawal. And the Republican backed the $700 million bailout bill last month, while the Democrat criticized it for failing to provide enough congressional oversight and supports more economic help for the middle class.
Israel has not been an issue in the campaign, but Iran did come up at a recent debate. Franken said that while he would not take any option off the table, it would be a “grave mistake” to take military action against Iran and backed talks with the Iranian government. Coleman said military action must remain an option and stressed the importance of energy independence in being able to counter the Islamic Republic.
Franken and Coleman have spent a combined $28 million mostly attacking each other. Best known for his time as a writer and performer on the television program “Saturday Night Live,” Franken has criticized his opponent’s ties to “special interests” such as oil and pharmaceutical companies, using a talking fish in some of his television ads to illustrate a Coleman fishing trip with oil company executives.
Meanwhile, Coleman has used Franken’s background as a comedian against him, taking the Democrat to task for material he had written that was insensitive to women. Franken responded that he was a comedian for 35 years and wasn’t proud of every joke he had written.
Coleman, one of two Jewish Republicans in the Senate, also has questioned his opponent’s temperament with a TV ad featuring various clips of Franken yelling and screaming. But the day after Yom Kippur, Coleman said the “time of fasting, soul searching and refocusing on your life” had convinced him to pull all his negative advertising—although Democrats have pointed out that the Republican Party has continued to run attack ads in the state.
The Minnesota race is seen as one of the crucial races Democrats must win if they want to achieve a filibuster-proof 60-vote majority in the Senate. That message was hammered home last week in a taped TV commercial by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), who campaigned last week with Franken.


Lautenberg’s challenge
The only other U.S. Senate race matching two Jewish candidates is in New Jersey, where 84-year-old Democrat Frank Lautenberg is strongly favored to win his fifth non-consecutive term over Republican Dick Zimmer, 64.
Lautenberg had retired in 2000 after three terms, but returned two years later to replace incumbent Bob Torricelli on the ballot just a few weeks before the election when Torricelli became enmeshed in scandal. Lautenberg has stressed his record as a protector of the environment, foe of big oil and backer of energy independence, as well as his support of expanding affordable health care.
Most recently a lawyer-lobbyist, Zimmer spent three terms in the U.S. House before losing to Torricelli in the 1996 Senate race. He is best known for his sponsorship of the federal version of Megan’s Law, which requires notifying residents when a sex offender moves into a neighborhood.
The Republican is emphasizing his fiscal conservatism, accusing Lautenberg of backing wasteful spending and arguing that the Democrat has not done enough to get New Jersey its fair share of federal tax money returned to the state.
The other 10 Jewish senators—seven Democrats, two independents and a Republican—are not up for re-election this term.


Rabbi’s run in N.J.
In a race with a potential first, Democrat Dennis Shulman—aka “The Blind Rabbi”—appears to be within striking distance in the contest to represent New Jersey’s 5th District in the U.S. House of Representatives. A new poll has Shulman, who lost his sight as a teenager and was ordained as a Reform rabbi five years ago, trailing incumbent Republican Scott Garrett by just 7 percentage points. Also, the Democrat in recent days has picked up the endorsements of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an independent, and The New York Times.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee recently moved the seat from its list of “emerging races” to the “Red to Blue” category, meaning the party is more optimistic about its chances in the district.
Shulman’s bid picked up momentum in the last month, since he started attacking Garrett over a staffer’s ties to a mortgage company connected to the economic crisis and charged the lawmaker with taking an improper tax break on his property. Shulman also has accused Garrett of being “too conservative” for his Bergen County-area district. Garrett has denied any wrongdoing and last week responded in kind, airing a negative advertisement accusing Shulman of wanting to negotiate with Hamas terrorists and calling him “too extreme for New Jersey.” (Shulman denies supporting talks with Hamas, saying he backs whatever diplomatic approach that Israel adopts on the issue.)
At a recent debate at a local synagogue, Garrett called on Shulman to “renounce” the endorsement he received from the left-leaning pro-Israel group J Street. Shulman defended the endorsement, saying he backs the new group’s desire to see the United States play a more active role in promoting Israel-Palestinian negotiations. Garrett has received the endorsement of the New Jersey-based pro-Israel political action committee NORPAC.


Alaska and Wyoming
Fewer than 500 Jews are estimated to live in Wyoming and only about 3,500 in Alaska, yet both states could fill their lone House seat with Jewish candidates.
In Alaska, Jewish Democrat Ethan Berkowitz—who served 10 years in the state Legislature, eight as House minority leader—leads 18-term incumbent Republican Don Young by 8 points. Young, 75, survived a razor-thin primary and is under investigation in the bribery scandal for which Alaska U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens was found guilty Monday on seven felony charges.
Berkowitz, 46, a San Francisco native, is running as a change candidate arguing that Alaska would be better served having a member of the Democratic majority represent the state in Washington. Both candidates back opening the Alaskan National Wildlife Reserve to drilling, but Berkowitz says he will be more effective in convincing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a fellow Democrat, to support it. The Democrat also has criticized what he calls Young’s “bullying” style in the House.
Young voted against both versions of the economic bailout bill, saying there should be limits to government involvement in the economy. Berkowitz said he would have reluctantly supported the final version of the legislation because no one but the government could do the job. He also said the legislation would free up credit for resource development in Alaska.
Berkowitz says he has a good relationship with Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, but some political observers say her selection as the Republican vice-presidential nominee could make his road to Washington tougher because it will motivate Republicans in the state to vote.
In Wyoming, two polls last week showed Jewish Democrat Gary Trauner and his Republican opponent, former state treasurer Cynthia Lummis, in a dead heat in their race to succeed Barbara Cubin. Political observers still slightly favor Lummis because of the 2-to-1 party registration edge Republicans have in the state, but Trauner lost a challenge to Cubin in 2006 by slightly more than 1,000 votes.
The New York-born Trauner, 49, stresses the importance of energy independence and Wyoming’s potential role in energy development. He is also a strong backer of Second Amendment gun rights. His opponent was endorsed by the National Rifle Association’s political action committee, but Trauner received an “A minus” from the organization.
Trauner, a cowboy boot-wearing businessman, has eschewed negative ads, saying that “the way you campaign is the way you will govern.”
Lummis has touted her record of more than doubling the state’s investment portfolio during her two terms as treasurer, but the state’s Democratic governor, Dave Freundenthal, in his endorsement of Trauner earlier this month said no one person should take credit for that growth. The Republican also has emphasized energy independence and pledged to oppose any federal tax increase if elected.
Due to a tough primary fight for Lummis, Trauner enjoyed a significant financial edge heading into the last month of the campaign with nearly $600,000 in the bank compared to about $200,000 for Lummis.


Alabama
Alabama is one of the few places where a Democrat is stressting his points of agreement with President Bush.
In the state’s 3rd District, which includes Montgomery, the three-term incumbent Republican Mike Rogers says his challenger, Democrat Josh Segall, is “too liberal” for the district, tying him to the American Civil Liberties Union in an ad because Segall’s father, Bobby—a former president of the Alabama Bar Association—does work for the organization. Segall, 29, a Montgomery native and Brown-educated lawyer, responds that he is pro-gun, supports the Bush tax cuts and backs offshore oil drilling. He believes the biggest problem facing his district is the loss of textile jobs overseas—Segall has criticized Rogers for backing free-trade deals—and feels the solution is improving infrastructure.
Segall has attacked Rogers for voting in favor of the economic bailout bill. Rogers, 50, has defended his vote as being in the best interests of the country.
This is another race that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee upgraded to the “Red to Blue” category. A poll earlier this month had Segall less than 10 points behind.


Chicago
The race in Illinois’ 10th District features no Jewish candidate, but the race in the heavily Jewish northern suburbs of Chicago is of interest to many in the Jewish and pro-Israel community.
The four-term incumbent, moderate Republican Mark Kirk, is seen as a leader on pro-Israel issues and is close to AIPAC. He introduced legislation earlier this year backed by the pro-Israel group that would have punished those selling refined gasoline to Iran. His challenger, Democrat Dan Seals, also has expressed strong support for the Jewish state. Seals, who defeated former Clinton administration Jewish liaison Jay Footlik in the Democratic primary, lost to Kirk by 6 points in 2006.
Kirk has received the endorsement of JACPAC, a Jewish political action committee devoted to the U.S.-Israel relationship and a domestic agenda that includes reproductive choice and the separation of church and state. He has stressed his independence from Bush, while Seals has tried to link Kirk to the unpopular president as much as possible.
A September poll commisisoned by the Web site Daily Kos sparked controversy earlier in the fall because it was conducted on Rosh Hashanah. Kirk’s pollster accused the Web site of intentionally conducting the survey on the holiday in order to exclude observant Jewish voters who back Kirk. Site founder Markos Moulitsas argued that by excluding Jews—a group that traditionally supports Democrats in large numbers—the timing of the poll may have helped Kirk.
In fact, while the Kos survey found Kirk ahead by 6 points, a poll a few days later by a different organization showed Kirk leading by 8 points. The most recent poll, also conducted by Kos, had Seals 6 points ahead in a race that many observers rank as a toss-up.

Local

Special Reports

Cover Stories

National

International

Israel