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Rothenberg One of the nation's top political analysts, Stuart Rothenberg, dissects politics at the congressional and statewide levels.

Stuart Rothenberg: Jesse Jackson, strategist

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- While Rev. Jesse Jackson told CNN convention anchors Bernard Shaw, Judy Woodruff and Jeff Greenfield after his Tuesday night speech that the selection of Sen. Joe Lieberman as Al Gore's running mate was a "huge breakthrough" and a "bold move," he also said that the senator's "real big challenge is to convince Protestants, Catholics and the South that beyond a religious anxiety about his being an Orthodox Jew, that he has the capacity and will to be fair to all Americans."

Those were newsworthy comments for a number of reasons.

In making that point, Jackson clearly was suggesting that a significant number of voters harbor anti-Semitic views, and, by implication, that they will have problems with the Gore-Lieberman ticket because they doubt whether the Connecticut senator could be "fair" to non-Jews.

True, every candidate for public office, male or female, white or black, liberal or conservative, has to convince voters that he or she will be fair. But Jackson put the matter into the context of religion, by first referring to John Kennedy's challenge in 1960, and then by identifying members of other religious groups who might be anxious because of Lieberman's religion.

Jackson didn't say that Lieberman would have to convince swing voters or voters in large states with a lot of Electoral College votes that he'd be fair. He said that the senator would have to convince Catholics and Protestants.

Apparently, it never occurred to Jackson that Lieberman would even have to convince some other Jews that he would be fair operating under the Constitution.

Jackson's comments probably were jarring to some ears. If Lieberman had picked a Presbyterian, would that person have had to "convince" Catholics, Jews and Episcopalians that he or she could be fair?

True, Jews aren't like everybody else, and when members of certain other minorities make it to a national ticket, they too will have to convince voters that they can be "fair operating under the Constitution," as Jackson put it at another point.

Still, Jackson's comments raise a number of obvious questions. Would a Reform Jew have to convince Protestants and Catholics of his or her fairness? Was Jackson asserting that Lieberman's level of observance was an additional problem for some Catholics and Protestants, or was it simply the senator's religion?

Maybe more importantly, what would the public and media reaction have been if Jackson's words had been uttered by Pat Robertson, Ralph Reed, or Jerry Falwell, rather than a high profile African-American leader in the Democratic Party? Or imagine if someone had said that a black candidate had to prove he had "the capacity and will to be fair to all Americans." Face it, all hell would have broken loose.

Most pollsters and political strategists I talked to over the past few months have argued that religion isn't a significant issue, and that anyone who would vote against Lieberman because of his religion probably wouldn't have voted for him anyway.

But Jackson isn't the only observer I've met at the Staples Center who believes that Lieberman's religion and religionosity could be an impediment to Gore's election.

A few days before the convention began, I was walking around the convention floor, watching the balloons being readied, the chairs being assembled, and the podium being finished. I was approached by a former history teacher in his mid-70s. He was Jewish. He told me that he and many of his friends were worried about the Lieberman selection because they believe that there are still considerable negative feelings about Jews, and that Lieberman could hurt Al Gore's chances of getting elected.

I didn't share that view at the time. I still don't. I believe that relatively few voters who would have voted for Gore will oppose the Gore-Lieberman ticket because of the religion of the vice presidential nominee. Vice presidents just don't matter that much.

But I'm much less certain now than I was just two days ago. If some Democrats -- and let's be clear that this includes some African-American Democrats -- stay home rather than vote for a ticket with Joe Lieberman on it, then Al Gore is toast.

I'm left with one question. I wonder whether Jackson made his remarks as a political analyst, or as someone who thought that Lieberman, because he is an observant Jew, really needs to prove to non-Jews that he can be fair. I wish I could have asked him that question.



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Wednesday, August 16, 2000


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