Democratic districts on Los Angeles\’ Westside and in the Valley, next week\’s primary will not only determine the Democratic winner but also the person who will almost certainly win in the fall\’s general election. And Jewish voters, who are overwhelmingly Democratic, will play a key role in the outcome.
The intensifying crisis of Iran\’s nuclear program is bringing into sharp relief the problems created for Israel by the radical foreign policy of the Bush administration.
On Nov. 8, the voters of California will have the chance to vote in a special election most of them did not want. That\’s no reason to stay home. After all, whether we like it or not, the election will take place, and all of California residents will have to live with the consequences.
The latest Field Poll shows U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer coasting toward re-election to a third term. She leads her Republican challenger, former California Secretary of State Bill Jones 48 to 32 percent.
Jews are attentive, high-propensity voters. Nearly one in five Los Angeles voters are Jewish (with only 6 percent of the population). If past history is a guide, however, the Jewish vote will play a more important role in the expected runoff between the two top candidates than in the multicandidate primary.
From 1992 through the present, a remarkably consistent 50 percent of Jewish voters have called themselves Democrats, roughly one-third independents and 16-18 percent Republicans.
The immigration issue burst into state politics in 1994 when unpopular Republican Gov. Pete Wilson used Proposition 187, a measure to deny public services to undocumented residents, to save his reelection.
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