Everybody loves somebody
California primary votes really count this year, which means there is plenty of politicking going on around the Jewish community.
Ken Wornick of Burlingame, owner of Post & Trellis Vineyards in Redwood City, has met Rudy Giuliani in person and says he supported his campaign swing through Northern California a few months ago. But he hedged his bets — he also worked for Mitt Romney via the Internet and supports the former Massachusetts governor. “Setting aside the war, abortion and other contentious topics that have no good answer and about which good people can disagree … conservative politicians more accurately represent my culture — and therefore my hopes for our nation,” he said.
Community leader and San Franciscan Roselyne “Cissie” Swig first met Hillary Clinton in the early 1990s when Bill Clinton was exploring the possibilities of a presidential bid. She and her late husband Dick Swig threw a party for the two in Dick’s father’s penthouse — and Swig has been a Hillary fan ever since. “She’s up front, very friendly and easy to be with — and one of the most intelligent people you could meet,” Swig reports. “She’s a problem-solver, and has the respect of colleagues on both sides of the aisle. This is a great opportunity for our country.”
AIPAC activist Sam Lauter of San Francisco is equally sold on Barack Obama, though he admits he was originally in the Joe Biden camp. “I threw a fundraiser for him when he was running for Senate and was impressed from the first moment,” Lauter said. He was further impressed by the way Obama handled rumors about his support for Israel. “Every time he came to a city with a significant Jewish presence, he sat down with community leadership, no matter who their candidate was, to talk about his feelings for the state of Israel. You don’t usually see a politician meet with 20 people who may not be voting for him or supporting him — just to be sure they know where he stands on an issue.” By the way, Lauter notes that he “loves his opponent [Hillary] too.”
Howard Epstein, who had been chair of San Francisco’s Giuliani campaign, put in overtime for his candidate’s abortive campaign. The San Francisco resident, who is also vice chair of San Francisco’s Republican party, met Giuliani on his first campaign trip to the Bay Area. “I was a volunteer driver,” he says. “Rudy spent lots of time on his cell phone working, but when he wasn’t working, he was cracking jokes. He showed me a different side … He’s very loose … very normal. Lots of guys running for office have out-of-control egos. Rudy doesn’t.” Epstein predicts most of Giuliani’s Jews will heed Rudy’s call and back John McCain. But Epstein already sent in his absentee ballot for Giuliani. So Rudy’s got that going for him — which is nice.
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