Mitt Romney speaking to the Republican Jewish Coalition presidential candidates' forum, Dec. 7, 2011. (Republican Jewish Coalition) WASHINGTON (JTA) — Mitt Romney’s record as a moderate Republican governor would seem to have made him ideally suited to peel off Jewish votes from President Obama. The problem is that he spent much of the past half decade running from that past. Now, however, as the campaign draws… Read more »
David Harris, the president of the National Jewish Democratic Council, speaking to a British journalist outside the NJDC bus in Charlotte, N.C., the site of the Democratic National Convention, about reported tensions between President Obama and Jewish voters, Sept. 3, 2012. (Ron Kampeas) CHARLOTTE, N.C. (JTA) — Jewish swing voters could make or break President Obama’s bid for reelection. At least that’s the case that Democratic Party leaders made in a training session that packed one of the larger halls at the convention center here on Monday, the day before the formal… Read more »
Sen. Richard Lugar, right, accompanies actor George Clooney with Sen. John Kerry for Clooney's testimonial on Sudan issues, in washington, D.C., March 14, 2012. Lugar's defeat in a primary election has pro-Israel activists worried about bipartisanship in Congress. (Medill DC via Creative Commons) WASHINGTON (JTA) — Richard Lugar was never considered to be one of Israel’s leading advocates on Capitol Hill. The veteran Republican senator from Indiana, who suffered a primary defeat last week after 35 years in office, is famously his own man. Lugar, the top Republican on the Foreign Relations… Read more »
State Treasurer Josh Mandel, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Ohio, is shown during his service as a Marine in Iraq. (Citizens for Josh Mandel) WASHINGTON (JTA) — As the 2012 campaign heats up in Ohio, Republicans are pinning their hopes on a young Jewish military veteran to unseat Democratic incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown. Josh Mandel, a 34-year-old U.S. Marine Corps veteran and the current state treasurer, has faced a number of challenges but… Read more »
Jewish backers of Rick Santorum, shown speaking at an Arizona Republican Party fundraiser in Phoenix on Feb. 21, 2012, say Jewish voters should look past his hard-line social conservatisim and consider his message on the economy and on Israel. (Gage Skidmore via Creative Commons) WASHINGTON (JTA) — If Rick Santorum secures the Republican nomination, expect to hear this mantra from his Jewish supporters: In times of crisis, social issues don’t matter. The former Pennsylvania senator, who is leading in national polls in the race for the GOP presidential nod, is fiercely anti-abortion and… Read more »
WASHINGTON (JTA) — As the Republican primary fight moves from New Hampshire to South Carolina, Newt Gingrich is stepping up his attacks on Mitt Romney and some prominent Jewish Republicans — who have a rich, mutually admiring history with both men — are wondering what happens next. Gingrich and… Read more »
Rep. Ron Paul, a Republican candidate for president whose views on Israel have unsettled some Jewish conservatives, speaking at the Western Republican Leadership Conference in Las Vegas, Oct. 19, 2011. (Gage Skidmore/Creative Commons) / WASHINGTON (JTA) — Ron Paul’s unlikely rise in the Republican presidential race has Jewish conservatives on edge. The Texas congressman had been regarded as a fringe figure whose views, especially on foreign policy — including his opposition to the U.S.-Israel alliance — put him far outside the Republican mainstream.… Read more »
Mitt Romney speaks to the Republican Jewish Coalition presidential candidates' forum on Dec. 7. (Republican Jewish Coalition) WASHINGTON (JTA) — Iran’s nuclear program appears to be racing ahead. The Middle East peace process is in shambles. And a series of recent flare-ups have highlighted ongoing tensions between the Obama administration and elements of the pro-Israel community. It was against this backdrop that six Republican candidates took… Read more »
LOS ANGELES (Jewish Journal) — In the course of an election campaign, most presidential candidates talk about what they’ll do if — or, if they’re particularly bullish, when — they’re elected. But Fred Karger isn’t like other Republicans running for president, and not just because he’s openly gay and… Read more »
The rise in the Republican presidential polls by Newt Gingrich, shown speaking at a GOP leadership conference in Las Vegas on Oct. 19, 2011, has refocused attention on his foreign policy statements. (Gage Skidmore via Creative Commons) WASHINGTON (JTA) — On the campaign trail, Newt Gingrich has given his fellow Republican presidential candidates a wide berth, often going out of his way to praise them. Instead of attacking his rivals, Gingrich has focused his fire on President Obama. The strategy appears to be paying off. The… Read more »
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, shown campaigning in Iowas on Nov. 14, 2011, has raised concerns among pro-Israel officials for proposing a policy on foreign aid that would have recipients make their case every year. (IowaPolitics via Creative Commons) WASHINGTON (JTA) — “Starting from zero,” the foreign assistance plan touted by leading Republican candidates at a debate, is getting low marks, and not just from Democrats and the foreign policy community. Pro-Israel activists and fellow Republicans also have concerns. Texas Gov. Rick Perry introduced the plan during the… Read more »
Mitt Romney is the whack-a-mole front-runner: He consistently leads the Republican pack, but only by beating back one conservative challenger after another. First it was Michele Bachmann, then Rick Perry, and now a surging Herman Cain. His contradictory status — as a front-runner caught in a constant rearguard action… Read more »
Ira Forman, longtime head of the National Jewish Democratic Council, was tapped by the Obama campaign to be its Jewish outreach director. (photo by Ira Forman) WASHINGTON (JTA/WASHINGTON JEWISH WEEK) — The fight for the Jewish vote in 2012 is expected to be a tough one. So the Obama campaign is turning to the quintessential insider. On Aug. 16, the Obama campaign tapped as its Jewish outreach director Ira Forman, the former head of the… Read more »
Newt Gingrich, a Republican candidate for president, speaks at the republican Jewish Coalition's California summer bash in Beverly Hills, June 12, 2011. (Zach Abrams) BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (JTA) – Israel and America are at a dangerous crossroads in which the survival of Israel and the safety of the United States both hang in the balance. Year after year, the forces of terrorism become stronger, and the claims of terrorists become more acceptable to… Read more »
Conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart, pictured here addressing a Republican Jewish Coalition event in June 2011, has become a star in Republican circles after exposing Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner's lewd tweets. (RJC) (Los Angeles) The TV cameras at the Beverly Hilton Hotel’s ballroom were there to cover a foreign policy speech by Newt Gingrich, but during the cocktail hour, all eyes at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s Summer Bash were on Andrew Breitbart. While Gingrich was mingling privately at the June 12… Read more »
WASHINGTON (JTA) — AIPAC photo-ops? Check. Initiate and pass Iran divestment bill? Check. Pheasant-hunt fundraisers, sandbagging for flood protection and running a bail bonds business… Check. Could Dan Lederman, an energetic and peripatetic 38-year-old Republican state senator in South Dakota, set a new template for Jewish politicians? “He’s somebody… Read more »
(JTA) — Jewish and Israeli leaders welcomed the news that Osama bin Laden was killed in a firefight with U.S. forces in Pakistan. The body of bin Laden, head of the terrorist group al-Qaida and the mastermind behind the Sept. 11, 2011 attacks on New York and Washington, was… Read more »
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, right, with Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, left, and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand at a Capital Hill reception for Jewish American Heritage Month, May 19, 2009. (Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington) WASHINGTON (JTA) — Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s first day as a sophomore in the U.S. House of Representatives, on Jan. 8, 2007, was marked by a number of extraordinary achievements for a woman barely out of her first term. Named to the Democratic caucus leadership. Named to the all-powerful Appropriations… Read more »
