Obama and the Jewish vote

Mon, June 23, 2008 - 9:51 AM

Barack Obama’s campaign to attract Jewish voters got a key boost in Florida over the weekend from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. It was no endorsement, but certainly a helpful defense in front of a Jewish audience that is still learning about the presumed Democratic presidential nominee.

While Obama was in Jacksonville and Miami, Bloomberg was in heavily Jewish Boca Raton telling the audience it was time to shut down the online rumors that Obama is a closet Muslim.

"This is wedge politics at its worst, and we've got to reject it — loudly, clearly and unequivocally,” he said, calling the whispering campaign “fear mongering.”

Billionaire Bloomberg, once a Democrat, then a Republican and now an independent, has been considered a potential vice president for Obama or John McCain.

--Neil Simon