Senator Joe Lieberman and a group of Jewish leaders said on Sunday that the Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry would maintain a strong commitment to Israel. Though Lieberman acknowledged that president George Bush "has got a good record" on the issue of Middle East policy and support for Israel, he said Kerry's "got a good record on Israel, too – a 100% voting record." Democrats had dispatched the former vice-presidential candidate along with New York senator Chuck Schumer and several Jewish members of Congress to seven synagogues across southern Florida to make Kerry's case before thousands of Jewish voters. With an estimated 500,000 Jewish voters, Florida holds one of the nation's largest Jewish communities.
Republicans have actively courted Jewish voters in Florida, touting President Bush's relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his hard-line stance on terrorism. Vice President Dick Cheney defended the war on terror before a Jewish audience in Boca Raton in May and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani recently campaigned with Republican Senate candidate Mel Martinez at a Jewish synagogue in West Palm Beach. Bush won about 19% of Jewish voters in 2000, but any slight increase could help him in hotly contested states such as this. Palm Beach Republican chairman Sid Dinerstein said he expects Bush to pick up about a third of the Jewish vote in Florida because Kerry's agenda would lead to "higher taxes and more lawsuits."
