PRESIDENTIAL RACE Brother courts voters at JCC

Kerry would be a better friend to Israel than Bush is, Kerry's brother said.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Kerry-Edwards campaign believes every vote counts.
That's why Cameron Kerry, younger brother of the Democratic presidential nominee, spoke Tuesday at the Jewish Community Center. U.S. Sen. John Kerry's brother converted to Judaism in 1983 when he married a Jewish woman, the former Kathy Weinman. He describes himself as a "Jew by choice."
There are about 2,500 to 3,000 Jews in the five-county Mahoning and Shenango valleys, said Bonnie Deutsch Burdman, director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation. That's a relatively small number of people in the five-county area.
"[Kerry supporters] don't want to leave any stone unturned," said Alan Kretzer, the council's president.
Kerry's brother acknowledged that is the case.
"We're fighting for every vote," he said.
Jewish support for Bush
Jewish people traditionally vote for Democratic candidates, and surveys state that Democrat Al Gore received about 80 percent of the Jewish vote in the 2000 presidential election over George W. Bush. But supporters of President Bush expect he will do better in next month's election because of his relationship with Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Cameron Kerry asked to come to Youngstown, a heavily Democratic area in the key battleground state of Ohio, to discuss Jewish and Israeli issues as well as other topics. There were a number of people in the audience who aren't Jewish but wanted to hear Kerry speak.
Kerry strongly emphasized that during his brother's nearly two decades in the U.S. Senate, he has voted 100 percent of the time on pro-Israel issues.
The younger Kerry, referred to by the national press as one of the presidential candidate's closest advisers, praised Bush for his support of Israel.
Bush has "done some good things, and I believe he has a commitment to Israel. But he's got nothing on John as far as being a friend of Israel."
Kerry said his older brother would be a better friend of Israel than is Bush because the Democrat will be more respected in the world, and that could ease tensions between Israel and other countries.
GOP response
In response, Kevin Madden, a Bush-Cheney spokesman, said: "It's astonishing that John Kerry, who took the opportunity to hail what he called Yasser Arafat's 'transformation from outlaw to statesman,' can claim that he's ever held a consistent position when it comes to the security of Israel. ... Jewish voters support President Bush because he has never wavered in his commitment to Israel."
The Arafat statement came from the Democratic presidential nominee in a 1997 book, "The New War." But Kerry campaign officials say much with Arafat has changed since then. Kerry's official policy statement on Israel said Arafat isn't a partner for peace.
During his discussion at the JCC and afterward with print reporters, the younger Kerry touched on his brother's core issues of creating better-paying jobs, making health care more accessible, and improving the country's image in the world community.
The Boston Globe checked Kerry's family tree last year, and discovered that his paternal grandparents converted from Judaism to Catholicism in 1905 after leaving Austria for the United States. Cameron Kerry said that there was a great deal of anti-Semitism in the United States at the time, and that it was quite common for immigrants to leave the Jewish faith.