The Trail

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

COURTING JEWISH VOTERS

Biden Cites Obama's Support of Israel

DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. -- Joseph Biden called himself a "zadie" (grandfather) and emphasized the importance of "mishpuchah" (family) as he touted himself and the Democratic presidential nominee, Barack Obama, as strong allies of Israel and the American Jewish community in a speech Tuesday.

Although polls show more than 60 percent of Jewish voters backing Obama, the campaign has worried that viral e-mails falsely asserting Obama is a Muslim and some sermons by Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, could dampen enthusiasm for the senator from Illinois.

Biden was introduced by a child of Holocaust survivors. The running mate emphasized his personal links to the late Tom Lantos, a Holocaust survivor who became a congressman from California. Lantos, who died this year, had served as a foreign policy aide to Biden before running for office.

Biden noted that his son's mother-in-law is Jewish and that the stepfather of one of his top foreign policy advisers was a Holocaust survivor. Biden talked about his first trip abroad as a senator, on which he met Golda Meir when she was prime minister of Israel. And he invoked several Yiddish terms to connect with an audience that included many older Jewish voters.

"I want to remind those of you who don't know me -- and those of you who do know me -- what my record has been. It has been unstinting in the defense and support of Israel," Biden told a crowd of several hundred at the Century Village retirement community.

Referring to the "scurrilous stuff going on in the Internet" about Obama, Biden said, "I promise you, the stuff you're getting on the Internet is simply not true."

"Not enough people know about Barack," Biden continued. "I promise you, Barack Obama, this man understands what is the driving energy in our community."

He went on to say, "Israel today is less secure than it was eight years ago."

"I promise you, we will make it more secure," Biden said to loud applause.

-- Perry Bacon Jr.

HOTEL ROOM ADS

Progressive Group Has Its Say

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Campaign for America's Future, a political organization that champions Democratic and progressive causes, is airing a TV ad this week that "thanks" conservatives and Republicans for the past eight years and promises, "We'll take it from here."

To the tune of "Thanks for the Memories," images of flood-ravaged post-Katrina New Orleans, gas-pump price dials, a foreclosure sign on a front lawn and President Bush's "Mission Accomplished" banner flash onscreen.

The ad started airing Sunday night in 365,000 hotel rooms nationwide -- including 5,000 in the Twin Cities area -- on the Hotel Networks, an in-room TV service used by hotel chains. (It's the channel offering pay-per-view movies that often air when you turn on a hotel room TV.)

The group said it wanted to make an ad buy for Twin Cities-area hotels only but could make only a nationwide buy.

-- Ed O'Keefe

ALASKA VETO

Palin Slashed Funding To Help Teenage Mothers

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential candidate, who revealed Monday that her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant, used her line-item veto this year to slash funding for a state program benefiting teen mothers in need of a place to live.

After the legislature passed a spending bill in April, Palin went through the measure reducing and eliminating funds for programs she opposed. Writing her initials on the legislation, Palin reduced funding for Covenant House Alaska by more than 20 percent, cutting funds from $5 million to $3.9 million. Covenant House provides programs and shelters for troubled youths, including Passage House, which is a transitional home for teenage mothers.

According to the Passage House Web site, its purpose is to provide "young mothers a place to live with their babies for up to eighteen months while they gain the necessary skills and resources to change their lives" and help them "become productive, successful, independent adults who create and provide a stable environment for themselves and their families."

John McCain opposed funding to prevent teen pregnancies, a position that Palin also took as governor. "The explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support," she wrote in a 2006 questionnaire distributed among gubernatorial candidates.

It also emerged yesterday that Palin and her husband, Todd, each held a 20 percent stake in an Anchorage carwash that ran into trouble with Alaska's Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing after she became governor in 2006, according to state records.

A Feb. 11, 2007, letter to the governor's business partner advises that the carwash had "not filed its biennial report and/or paid its biennial fees," which were more than a year overdue. The warning was issued on state letterhead, which carried Palin's name at the top, next to the state seal.

On April 3, 2007, the state went further and issued a "certificate of involuntary dissolution" because of the carwash's failure to file its report and pay state licensing fees.

-- Paul Kane, Matthew Mosk and the Associated Press