Those hoping to see Rep. Eric Cantor on Sen. John McCain’s presidential ticket say the Jewish Republican from Virginia bridges two unlikely constituencies: Jews and red state conservatives.
The Cantor devotees admit, however, that McCain might be looking for a bigger name to keep the White House Republican.
“There’s a positive and negative to not being a household name,” said William Daroff, a Jewish lobbyist and a former Republican operative.
“The positive is that it gives [Cantor] the opportunity to frame anew who he is and what he’s all about, a vision for the future. The negative is that other than helping him in Virginia and in some battleground states because of his Jewishness, he doesn’t have a proven national brand,” said Daroff, who heads the Washington office of the United Jewish Communities.
The campaign for McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has asked Cantor, 45, to present papers for vice-presidential vetting. Political insiders say Cantor, the deputy minority whip in the House of Representatives, is a long shot. Most bets are on McCain’s rival for the nomination, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, and on Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.
Cantor and his staff declined to be interviewed for this article, but as recently as May, the only Jewish Republican in the House discounted suggestions that he would be placed on the ticket, giggling as he told JTA that such speculation was “ridiculous.”
Even the Republican Jewish Coalition seemed skeptical that Cantor would be the pick.
“Regardless of what McCain decides, Cantor has a very bright future ahead of him,” said Suzanne Kurtz, the RJC spokeswoman. “He is an appealing and articulate leader for Jewish Republicans and all Republicans. As the GOP continues to make inroads in the Jewish community, it is a wonderful moment to introduce this rising star to a wider audience.”
Don’t count out Cantor or underestimate the impact he could make in the presidential election, said Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), who as minority whip functions as Cantor’s congressional boss.
Blunt said Cantor could tip the balance among Jews who are concerned about the pro-Israel credentials of the presumptive Democratic nominee, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).
“At a time when many Jewish voters who voted Democratic in the past are going to look carefully between John McCain and Barack Obama on Middle East and economic issues, Eric Cantor can add a real boost to what I already believe will be a significant hard look by Jewish voters at John McCain,” Blunt said.
The McCain campaign has worked hard to draw distinctions between the two candidates on Iran particularly. Obama favors increased diplomacy, while McCain leans toward confrontation and isolation.
Cantor already has served as an attack dog on Jewish issues for the McCain campaign. He told JTA in May he was confident that McCain, with his reputation as a foreign policy hawk and a moderate on social issues, would take a bite out of the Jewish vote.
“There is no doubt in my mind that the American Jewish community is going to register an unprecedented number of votes for the Republicans and Mr. McCain,” Cantor said.
In a statement sent to reporters, Cantor misquoted Obama as telling the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg that Israel was a “constant sore” in the Middle East. In fact, Obama was referring to the conflict, enunciating a view echoed by Bush administration officials, including the president himself.
Goldberg asked Cantor to retract the statement; Cantor has not.
That’s not atypical for the deputy whip, often the chief strategist in formulating political attacks. In 2006, Cantor launched a broadside against Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), then the minority leader, for her efforts to include consideration of Lebanese civilians in a pro-Israel resolution on the Israel-Hezbollah war that summer.
Cantor painted Pelosi as insufficiently concerned about Israeli civilians, even though AIPAC had approved her language.
Cantor has a personal history that could prove attractive to Jews and conservatives. He’s always been close to his family, and apart from college years spent in New York — where he met his wife, Diana — he has spent his life in Richmond working in the family real estate business.
He made his first run for Congress in 2000 after serving in the Virginia House of Delegates. His family has deep ties in the local Jewish community; his mother and wife are active in the local Hadassah chapter.
Cantor’s rise in Congress was meteoric. In 2003, during his sophomore term, he was named to the powerful deputy whip position.
There were a few blips along the way: He benefited from the largesse of the disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, taking more than $30,000 in campaign contributions from an operation eventually exposed for defrauding American Indians.
Also, in 2006, after Abramoff pleaded guilty to fraud and corruption charges, Cantor gave $10,000 of the money to charity. In 2003, Cantor was briefly caught up in “Picklegate,” when his campaign neglected to pay Abramoff’s kosher deli, Stacks, for a fundraiser.
Cantor apologized, paid the $1,700 and was not sanctioned.
Those close to him credit his prodigious fundraising skills for his rapid rise in Congress.
“Congressman Cantor has an excellent relationship with Jews who are engaged in campaign finance activities whether as Republican Jewish Coalition leaders, AIPAC leaders or as Jewish federation stalwarts,” Daroff said.