UNCOVERING THE DOCTORS PLOT:

Is the Doctor In?: Howard Dean and the fight for the DNC’s soul (Doug Ireland, 1/21/05, LA Weekly)

It may not be easy for the center-right leaning power elite in the party to bar the route to the doctor from Vermont. The establishment’s original candidate, former Indiana Congressman Tim Roemer, entered the race with the puissant backing of the Democrats’ two Congressional chiefs — Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. The handsome and articulate Roemer got a lot of face time on the tube during the 9/11 Commission hearings, where he proved himself an aggressive questioner and burnished his image on national security — the latter, the party elite thought, made him a bulletproof winner and a great public face for a party still reeling from its November defeat, in which post-9/11 security hysteria played a major role.

But Roemer has been effectively torpedoed by a bizarre alliance — a double-whammy, slash-and-burn lobbying campaign by two of the party’s most influential interests: the women’s groups, and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). The women’s groups, led by NARAL Pro-Choice America and the political fund-raising champs at EMILY’s List, have targeted Roemer’s extensive anti-abortion voting record, and his declarations that the party should show more "tolerance" for abortion foes and needs to eliminate its "moral blind spot" on late-term abortions. (This record has many in the party, including a lot of House members facing re-election, privately questioning Pelosi’s judgment in endorsing him.)

AIPAC — the powerful, treasury-rich pro-Israeli lobby, now embroiled in accusations that it was at the center of a spy ring within the Pentagon on Israel’s behalf — has been brandishing a list of what it claims are 22 "anti-Israel" Congressional votes by Roemer, who’s been a critic of the $6 billion plus in U.S. aid to Ariel Sharon and his "Wall of Shame." Many of the party’s Jewish big contributors have become even more knee-jerk supporters of Israel’s no-compromise conservative government since 9/11. "The DNC’s biggest source of large-donor money is from fat-cat Jews," says a veteran Democratic fund-raiser, "and AIPAC’s threat — elect Roemer and we’ll shut down your Jewish big money — has been incredibly effective."

I've decided I'm not actually balding--Jews are just stealing my hair.

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 20, 2005 10:05 AM