Expanding our Senate Minyan in 2010

Linda Berg — March 3, 2010 – 10:29 am | Congress | Democrats | Domestic Policy | Election 2010 | Foreign Policy | McCain Comments (0) Add a comment

I was at a Bris last week and the conversation inevitably turned to the Olympics. Immediately my friends and family started talking about which athletes were Jewish—taking a sense of pride, as if members of the family were winning medals. Debates raged about whether this athlete or that one actually was Jewish based on an athlete’s last name, as if an athlete’s achievement was more remarkable if he or she was a “member of the tribe.”

 

As we enter this political season, I will be blogging weekly on political news of interest to Jewish voters. Certainly Jews are interested in which Jewish politicians are running for political office. This week’s column focuses on four Jewish candidates who are running for the US Senate this year. Three are vying for open seats and one is challenging a very well-entrenched, but possibly vulnerable, incumbent.

In New Hampshire, Representative Paul Hodes is running for the open Gregg seat. This is considered one of the true “toss-up” Senate races. At the moment, the Republicans face a bitterly-contested primary in September. The character of this race will dramatically shift depending on the winner of that primary. In the House, Hodes has amassed an impressive legislative record fighting tirelessly against Wall Street executives, health insurance companies and corporate lobbyists. He is a staunch and unshakable supporter of Israel.

Five-time statewide elected Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has spent his career fighting corruption and Big Tobacco and protecting consumers, the environment, and labor and privacy rights. He started as a chief federal prosecutor, then worked as volunteer council for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and as an elected member of the CT House of Representatives. An immensely popular elected official, Blumenthal is favored to take the place of retiring Senator Chris Dodd.

In Ohio, Lt. Governor Lee Fisher is facing a contested primary against the Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner (who is not Jewish). Fisher spent 10 years in the state legislature, 4 years as Ohio Attorney General and has served as Lt. Governor since 2006. His remarkable achievements in the state legislature include the Missing Children Law; the Hate Crime Law; the Crime Victims Assistance Law; the Hospice Licensure Law; and the Child Safety Seat Law and he led the legislative fight to secure critical funding for Ohio legal aid services. As Attorney General he cracked down on drugs and successfully defended the constitutionality of the Ohio Hate Crime law before the Ohio Supreme Court. In his current role as Lt. Governor, Fisher has concentrated on retaining, attracting and creating jobs to grow Ohio’s economy. If he wins the primary, Fisher will face former US Representative and US Trade Representative Rob Portman who has recently been embroiled in a controversy about his ties to a group which uses inappropriate Holocaust rhetoric in its advocacy.

And last, but not least, our long shot but extremely talented challenger to Senator John McCain is Tucson City Councilman Rodney Glassman. A former Eagle Scout, US Air Force Jag Officer and board member of the Pima Council on Aging, Glassman recognized that tackling the problem of Tucson’s water shortage was crucial for the city’s economic development. He was responsible for the first-ever ordinance requiring new commercial development to harvest and utilize rainwater. Glassman also developed and brought the council together to unanimously require that new Tucson homes include plumbing systems to reuse water for landscaping. These landmark ordinances are now being adopted by cities across the Southwest. Although at first glance, a city councilman challenging the 2008 Republican presidential nominee sounds like a David and Goliath scenario, the fact that McCain faces a primary from the far right makes this Senate race more interesting. If, by chance, McCain loses to his right wing opponent, Glassman will be a very enticing alternative to Arizona voters.

In future weeks I’ll talk about Jewish candidates for the House, Governors seats, incumbents, and those running for state legislatures. With the great richness of our Jewish candidate field, there will be a lot of opportunity to kvell. As their elections grow closer, this blog will concentrate more on election analysis and how issues that Jewish voters care about are faring in the public arena.

 

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