James Besser's blog

Friday, October 17th, 2008

James Besser in Washington

The Rev. Jesse Jackson may have nothing to do with the Barack Obama presidential campaign, but that isn’t stopping the Republicans from using Jackson’s latest bizarre outburst to tar the Democratic presidential nominee.

Friday, October 3rd, 2008

James Besser in Washington

Jewish voters hoping to get a better idea how John McCain and Barack Obama might approach the Israeli-Palestinian conflict got precious little in Thursday’s vice presidential candidate debate.

Friday, October 3rd, 2008

James Besser in Washington

This week’s polls are showing Sen. Barack Obama opening up a significant lead over Sen. John McCain, but don’t start placing your bets on the November outcome.  A cascade of events and some unprecedented political factors make this the most volatile election year in recent history.

Monday, September 29th, 2008

James Besser in Washington

With bank failures and a bearish stock market casting a dark shadow over the Capitol, Congress is scrambling to pass the record $700 billion financial bailout package this week. And that’s causing big problems for numerous Jewish lawmakers.

Many Jewish House members - there are 30 of them - were watching the clock as today’s debate dragged on and their prospects for getting out of town in time for the beginning of Rosh Hashanah diminished with every tick.

Monday, September 29th, 2008

James Besser in Washington

The American Jewish Committee’s annual survey of Jewish Opinion is, as usual a rich mine of information about where the community’s head is at (check it out here). This week the Jewish Week will include a major story on some of its more intriguing - and potentially controversial - findings.

Friday, September 19th, 2008

Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign seems to think that the road to keeping the Democrats’ big majority of Jewish votes in November may run through the bimah.

First there was emergence of “Rabbis for Obama,” a groundbreaking group that has collected more than 400 signatures - mostly from the Reform and Conservative realms, as we reported last week, but with a smattering of Orthodox rabbis.

Thursday, September 18th, 2008

Thursday, September 18th, 2008

Larry Cohler-Esses in New York

Wednesday, September 17th, 2008

James Besser in Washington

Jewish political circles were buzzing at midweek over reports that John McCain supporters in Florida and elsewhere are using “push polling” to link  the Democratic nominees to the PLO and other anti-Israel forces.

Thursday, September 11th, 2008

James Besser in Washington

With Election Day now looking perilously close, the Barack Obama presidential campaign is ramping up its Jewish outreach in critical states like Florida.

And this week a group of rabbis - now approaching 400 - pitched in to make the Illinois senator’s case.