STICKY ISSUE OF THE WEEK Anti-semitism. We know the polls claim that Joe Lieberman’s Jewish faith is irrelevant to the vast majority of voters, but that isn’t how it played out in chat rooms and talk radio this week. As if the lewd and crude bigotry weren’t bad enough, the spelling was atrocious too. And we always thought you needed to be literate to go online.
GAFFE OF THE WEEK It’s not just who you invite to your parties, but where you have them that matters as well. Democratic congresswoman Loretta Sanchez got her fingers burned when party organizers insisted she cancel a Latino fundraiser planned for the Playboy mansion because they thought the venue would send the wrong message about family values. But the issue may not go away as easily as all that. Republican campaigners wasted no time accusing the Dems of hypocrisy for accepting contributions from Playboy icon Hugh Hefner and his daughter Christie while rejecting their sybaritic site of nude photo sessions. Their demand: Return the funny bunny money.
HILLARY WATCH She’s hoping the Lieberman pick will help her too. Certainly, Hillary needs to boost her Jewish support–the latest Quinnipiac Poll shows her receiving 52 percent of the Jewish vote (rival Lazio gets 36) in a state where successful Democratic candidates generally receive a minimum of 60 percent. The pundits, however, aren’t sure whether the national ticket will affect the Senate race. New York Jews tend not to vote as a bloc, and, even if they did, the Joe factor may not impress African-American voters in areas where relations are tense between blacks and Jews. Black New Yorkers won’t vote Republican, but they could stay away from the polls in large enough numbers to hurt Hillary.
EXIT POLL Just three months to go, and voters still haven’t learned their lessons. An Annenburg Public Policy Center study has found that two-thirds of those polled did not know where both candidates’ stood on hot-button issues like gun licensing (only 33 percent knew that W. opposes it) and school vouchers (only 39 percent percent knew that Gore opposes them.) Only just over a half of those surveyed (52 percent) knew that Bush wants to curb abortion rights and that Gore is pro-choice (51 percent.) Some 78 percent did know that Bush supports the death penalty, but a mere 35 percent knew that Gore did too.
E-NEWS Yes, Virginia, there is still altruism in cyberspace. Chicago’s David Jackson could have tried to cash in on his foresight in registering the domain name of Gore-Lieberman way back in March. But the 20-year-old student, himself an Orthodox Jew who wants to see Lieberman become the country’s first Jewish vice president, gave the URL to the Dems for free. (The campaign did pay his $100 registration fee.) “The domain is rightfully theirs,” said Jackson. “I wanted to help, and I had to answer to a higher purpose.”
SECRET LIVES OF THE CANDIDATES Surprise, surprise. Laura Bush says her husband is smarter than he appears. The would-be First Lady told “US Weekly” in its upcoming issue that W. has always been underestimated. She also confided that her spouse was something of a slob before they met. It was only after they began dating, she said, that he began “puttin’ on a little deodorant, combing his hair and chewing less tobacco.” Luckily for the Texas governor, she still found him “really, really adorable.” What can Tipper say about Al after that?
title: “Barometer” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-27” author: “Angel Walton”
STICKY ISSUE OF THE WEEK The Electoral College. If nothing else, the Florida cliffhanger has forced us all to revisit this creaky procedure which could allow the most popular candidate to lose the race. Critics consider the indirect-election method an anachronism left over from an era that lacked mass communications and good transportation. Others, however, see it as a safeguard that gives smaller states some say in the selection procedure. It may be too soon to argue that the College’s days are numbered. But it does seem likely that more states will revisit the Maine-Nebraska example of opting for proportional representation rather than the winner-takes-all system.
GAFFE OF THE WEEK Hmmm. History probably won’t look kindly on Palm Beach County’s decision to give its voters a potentially confusing butterfly ballot. But the real raspberry of the week must go to the TV networks who prematurely called the race in Florida–not once, but twice. Like most mistakes, this one was caused by a combination of factors, including a 40,000-vote error in results submitted by Duval County to the Voter News Service. But understanding how the networks went wrong won’t make the voters trust them more next time around.
HILLARY WATCH In case you missed it, she won. Comfortably. But New York’s new junior senator isn’t resting on her laurels. Just hours after her victory speech, Hillary was holding a press conference to promise her supporters her first bill would be to improve the upstate economy. Then she flew off on a Friday victory lap in some of New York’s northern and western cities–after detouring to Washington for a ceremonial dinner celebrating the 200th anniversary of the White House. The First Husband may not be looking forward to January 20, but we’d guess the First Lady is counting the days.
EXIT POLL How much did Joe Lieberman’s religion matter to the voters? Not much. According to exit polls conducted by Voter News Service, 72 percent of those surveyed said they felt the Connecticut senator’s Jewish faith would make no difference to his performance as vice president. Seventeen percent said it would make him “more likely” to do a good job; 8 percent argued the opposite.
E-NEWS If there’s an issue, there’s sure to be a Web site. And for voters who want to tell Florida election officials what they think of them, there’s GetActiveHub.com. A new section on the site provides a prewritten letter that can be e-mailed to the likes of Gov. Jeb Bush and Palm Beach County Commissioner Carol Roberts. The missive, which can be modified, calls for a new vote in Florida on the grounds that “if the vote was flawed, so must be the recount.” An added attraction? Visitors to the site can also print out their own copy of the controversial butterfly ballot.
SECRET LIVES OF THE CANDIDATES Want the lowdown on George W. Bush’s election-morning activities? Well, he woke at 6:30 a.m. and followed his usual morning ritual of feeding the family’s two cats and a dog. Then he made coffee, took a cup to his wife and called his parents in Houston to tell them not to worry. He also read some of the Bible, said the aide who imparted these juicy nuggets to waiting reporters.
