New York – Jewish Support In Brooklyn Battlegrounds Could Hand Election To The Republicans

New York – On June 6, Paul Ryan had a visitor in his House of Representatives’ office in Washington, D.C. Mr. Ryan was not yet the vice-presidential nominee, but was already a rising star in the Republican Party and well known in America’s capital as author of the fiscally conservative “Ryan Budget.”

Ezra Friedlander knew he had the ear of somebody important. As a non-partisan political consultant and Orthodox Jew, he wanted the Wisconsin politician to know not everyone who accepts entitlements are moochers or “professional schnorrers,” as he put it in Yiddish during an interview at his Brooklyn brownstone. Some Orthodox Jews, he explained, rely on food stamps because they spend thousands of dollars sending their five, six or seven children to religious schools rather than taxpayer-funded ones.

But Mr. Ryan would have known he had the ear of somebody important, too. Mr. Friedlander is a community leader in New York’s Borough Park, home to one of the largest Orthodox Jewish populations outside Israel. And that socially conservative sect of the Jewish population, Republican strategists believe, marks the party’s best chance at making inroads into a demographic that overwhelmingly votes for — and financially supports — the Democrat Party.

Jews made up just 2% of voters in 2008 and only a small percentage of them, somewhere around 5%, are persuadable. But in a competition that could end in an electoral-college tie, their support in prize battlegrounds could prove invaluable.

And the stars could be aligned for a Republican pick-up this time around: President Barack Obama failed to visit Israel on his 2009 Middle East tour and, in the eyes of some, snubbed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New York this fall; the Democrat Party removed Jerusalem as the Israeli capital from its platform and only reinstated it at their convention after an oral vote heavy on “boos;” the president has refused to draw a clear red line on Iran’s nuclear program and, of course, the economy tanked.

In 2008, there was only Rabbis for Obama. Today there is Rabbis for Romney, too.

“This is not the Democrat Party of old,” said Rabbi Bernhard Rosenberg, who launched Rabbis for Romney this fall to counter the perception all Jews support Democrats.

“The question is, when you’re voting Democrat, are you voting for the Jews or against the Jews? For Israel or against Israel?”

Rabbi Rosenberg’s support for the Republican candidate runs far deeper, though, than the matter of Israel. For many Jewish voters, Israel is actually low on the radar because they know it is U.S. policy to ally strongly with the country, no matter who is in office.

As elsewhere, then, the economy is top of mind for voters here in Borough Park on this rainy afternoon, as observant Jews — in their skirts and long coats, curls and beards — hurried to escape the pour.

A bank on 13th Avenue, surrounded by delis and bakeries, was bustling with soaked voters. And while most said they will support Mr. Romney, there were some undecided voters, too.

Matt Swerdloff, chief marketing officer of a tech start-up, said he will vote for Mr. Romney because he is more concerned than ever about tax rates. And Alex Mayer, a 34-year-old lifelong Borough Park resident, said he is leaning toward Mr. Romney but remains unconvinced.

The wiggle room in Mr. Mayer’s mind is the kind of opening eyed by the Republicans in states like Florida. That battleground is worth 29 electoral votes and could well tip the scales, as it did in 2000 when Mr. Bush won by a margin of 537 votes.

Unprecedented millions, donated largely by Sheldon Adelson to the Republican Jewish Coalition, have been pumped into the Sunshine State for television ads centring on Israel and billboards that say, “OBAMA … OY VEY! Had Enough?” and “Friends Don’t Let Friends Get Nuked. STOP OBAMA.” The coalition is also reportedly handing out iPhones to attract volunteers.

“No one knows what the impact of those millions of dollars will be,” said Mik Moore, co-founder of the Jewish Council for Education & Research, a pro-Obama Super PAC.

“I think they’re having some success with it.”

Chaskel Bennett, a Borough Park community activist who will vote for Mr. Romney but who supported president Bill Clinton twice, jokes to his friends in South Florida their ballot is worth 10 times his. He lives, after all, in solidly blue New York.

But to his mind, the state holds symbolic importance. When Bob Turner, a Roman Catholic Republican, beat out his Democrat opponent in one of the most reliably Democrat and heavily Jewish congressional districts in the U.S., some said the win marked a potential sea-change for the presidential election in states like Florida, Ohio and Nevada.

Current trends indicate the Jewish community’s move toward conservatism and conservatives
“Our liberal co-religionists breathlessly defend the Bob Turner victory as an exception, but current trends indicate the Jewish community’s move toward conservatism and conservatives,” Mr. Bennett said in an interview at Mr. Friedlander’s dining-room table.

“It may very well be the ‘new norm.’ ”

Mr. Troy said the Romney campaign has been doing Jewish outreach for well over a year, long before the Mormon candidate was even the party’s nominee.

He introduced Mr. Romney on a recent conference call with more than 1,600 Jewish leaders and supporters, and has personally appeared at Romney events in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Weather permitting, he will campaign again in this crucial final week.

Mr. Troy wants to help Mr. Romney capture 30% of the Jewish vote, a feat not achieved by a Republican in more than two decades.

The party gleaned only 10% of the vote during the terms of Democrats Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman, who recognized the state of Israel after the Second World War. By the 1980s, support for the Republican Party reached into the 30% range, with Ronald Reagan earning a record 39% support.

But in 1992 under Bush Sr., the Jewish Republican vote collapsed “like air coming out of a tire,” Mr. Troy said, especially after a Bush official was caught uttering “f— the Jews, they didn’t vote for us anyway.”

I think those who vote in a die-hard way — always Democrat — have to look at themselves in the mirror
“Yes, Jewish people have historically voted Democrat, and I come up against this every single day,” said Mr. Bennett who, like Mr. Friedlander, describes himself as non-partisan and has voted for Democrats and Republicans in the past.

“I think those who vote in a die-hard way — always Democrat — have to look at themselves in the mirror and say, ‘One second. Should my vote be an automatic?’ ”

Mr. Moore said that while he is paying close attention to the effort aimed at sapping some of the 78% support the president got in 2008, he would be far more concerned if the Republican Party eased up on social issues, where the majority of the Jewish population aligns with the Democrats.

“The party has pushed to the right, so an overwhelming majority of Jewish voters just can’t support [Mr. Romney],” he said.

That rings true to Ivan Rubin, a secular Jew who lives in New York. The retired lawyer said he was so disappointed in the president’s first term he considered staying home on Election Day. But when he heard the social values championed during the Republican primaries, he realized the importance of his ballot and will vote Obama.

Even Gabriella Friedlander, Mr. Friedlander’s conservative wife, takes issue with the Republican Party when it comes to abortion. She is highly religious and opposes abortion, but she is downright offended by Republican men who want to control a woman’s body.

Mr. Moore, the Jewish Super PAC co-founder, said he will do everything he can to stave off Republican inroads into the small slice of the Jewish community that remains persuadable.

“If, despite [Obama’s perceived weakness on Israel] and all the money being put in by Adelson, the Republicans are unable to make any real progress in wooing Jewish votes, you kind of feel like they should give up,” he said.

But in this final push toward Election Day, with Mr. Romney leading by just a single point in Florida, Mr. Troy and the ramped-up Republican machine will do anything but.

Content provided as courtesy by the National Post