WHAT BETTER FRIENDS HAS ISRAEL HAD THAN REAGAN AND W?:

For Barack Obama, a careful courting of Jewish vote: The Democratic presidential hopeful has recalibrated his words about Israel and the Middle East peace process. (Ariel Sabar, 5/03/07, The Christian Science Monitor)

Some analysts say the miscues add up to a faltering start for Obama with a group of politically active voters and donors who could play an important role in a tight Democratic primary, particularly in states with larger Jewish populations like New York, New Jersey, Florida, Nevada, and California.

But Obama's advisers contend the sharp questions are a result of scrutiny any newcomer to the national stage would face on terrain as knotty as Middle East politics.

The notion that seeming anti-Israel will harm him with Jews is unsupported by recent electoral history. It's a killer with Evangelicals though.

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 2, 2007 8:24 PM