Giuliani Grows Jewish Grassroots; McCain Sticks to Grasstops
While the race for Jewish donors continues, the Giuliani campaign seems also to be growing an organic network of grassroots Jewish supporters, while McCain and Co. is sticking to the financial machers.
In New York, Jewish young professionals are mobilizing for a Rudy Giuliani event next Monday night. Just over the past several weeks, a quickly-growing steering committee has put together this first event for the Jewish yuppie set. They are working with the campaign’s dedicated Jewish outreach coordinator – Yehuda Gross.
(Earlier this month, the Giuliani campaign sent out a mass Jewish fundraising letter. )
The McCain campaign, meanwhile, boasts of Republican heavyweight Fred Zeidman, the Houston venture capitalist who has been a supporter and close friend of President Bush. Zeidman, who serves as the campaign’s national vice chair, has been sending out friends-and-family letters, according to McCain campaign spokeswoman Brook Buchanan.
“At this point, like all of the candidates, the Senator is raising money,” Buchanan told the Forward this morning. “That’s his focus right now.”
Buchanan said Zeidman’s son, Jay Zeidman, is workingon Jewish outreach for the campaign. She touted the campaign’s “Americans of Faith Communities” program – an effort to sign up religious leaders as public supporters.
With McCain floundering in the polls – the latest [Rasmussen survey]( (http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/2008_republican_presidential_primary ‘Rasmussen survey’), out today, has him tied with Romney for a distant third – one wonders if the Iraq and immigration saddled senator will ever catch an organic wave of support.
To check-out what’s bubbling up for Giuliani, come to the event next Monday:
Where: the Metropolitan club in NYC
When: 7:30-9:00
Entrance: Set intentionally low at $45, with the goal of turning out 150 to 200 people
Speaker: Not Rudy himself, but Matt Mahoney – a deputy senior policy adviser to the campaign (and Brooklyn native) – will be on hand.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
