There goes the Zionist conspiracy...

The Jerusalem Post of all papers is reporting on the DNC Chairmanship race and a comment in there proved me wrong on Simon Rosenberg being Jewish (I still endorse Simon...even though Frost is my second choice...)

The campaigning has already begun and some, including within the Jewish community, are raising eyebrows about some of the leading contenders, wondering if they are the faces that can help lead to greater turnout at the polls for Democrats and keep up record-level donations to the Democratic party. The DNC raised an unprecedented $400 million during the 2004 election cycle.

Among those who have entered the DNC chair race so far are former presidential hopeful, Howard Dean, an ousted Democratic congressman from Texas, Martin Frost, and former congressman from Indiana, Tim Roemer, who served on the national commission investigating the September 11 attacks.

Roemer says the House and Senate minority leaders Nancy Pelosi of California and Harry Reid of Nevada, who replaced Tom Daschle after his defeat in November, have encouraged him to run.

Roemer's supporters say his participation on the September 11th commission helps project strength on issues like terrorism. But some political observers have quietly questioned his record in the House, which included consistent votes against foreign aid --including for Israel -- as a potential political liability. In 2001, he voted against a plan to punish Lebanon if it did not crack down on Hizbullah.[...]

During the primary campaign, Dean frequently stressed to Jewish audiences that his wife Judith Steinberg Dean was Jewish in an attempt to signal that he would be supportive on issues of concern to the Jewish community.

But he alienated some pro-Israel Democrats when he said he would pursue an "evenhanded approach" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. After being criticized by Israel supporters, Dean noted, "I never use that word anymore. I've discovered that 'evenhandedly' is a code word to certain people who think that is being unfair and I don't want to ever repeat that word again." He added that terror must end before Israel will be willing to withdraw from the West Bank.

One official with a Jewish organization said, "The person people (in the Jewish community) are most concerned about is Dean. I don't think anyone should perceive Dean as anti-Israel. The concerns about him stem more from the people who support him and their attitudes toward Israel. And they worry that his overall attitude toward foreign policy would be less robust."

"I think his comments about Israel were disturbing on the merits, but I think they were even more disturbing in what they revealed about his judgment," said Dan Gerstein, a senior strategist for Senator Joseph Lieberman's (D-Connecticut) presidential campaign who now works as an independent consultant in New York. "He said some things that were almost na ve and didn't think about the implications."

Gerstein noted, "Traditionally a DNC chair has nothing to do with foreign policy. But I think that's one of the things the Democrats have to reexamine" in a post-September 11 world. "The Democrats haven't gotten how dramatically [9/11] changed the political landscape as the Republicans did."

In a blistering critique of senior Democratic officials, Gerstein wrote in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday that the Democrats did not "seem to know how to pick winners – or fire losers."

He described Pelosi and Reid as "two honorable, decent people who nevertheless have done little to inspire confidence that they could successfully fight a parking ticket, let alone the war against terrorism."

Gerstein endorsed Simon Rosenberg who chairs the New Democrat Network, a Washington-based organization that works to court Democratic support nationwide. Rosenberg, whose father's family was Jewish but who was raised Christian and attends an Episcopalian church, is from the Clintonian, centrist branch of the party. He is also known as a modernizer, and as someone who early on recognized the need to employ new technologies and strategies to tap new Democratic voters.

Among the others running is Martin Frost, the ousted Democratic congressman who lost his seat from Texas because of a Republican redistricting plan. Frost, who is Jewish, is known as an adept fundraiser as head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which this week appointed Representative Rahm Emanuel (D-Illinois), the son of an Israeli, to be its chairman and help raise funds for the 2006 House elections.

Senator Chuck Schumer, a fellow Jew, chairs the DSCC.