Romney needs a win in Michigan primary to stay in the game - Haaretz

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		Republican candidate Mitt Romney. (AP)

Romney needs a win in Michigan primary to stay in the game

By Shmuel Rosner, Chief U.S. Correspondent

Tags: U.S. presidential election

Race for the White House / The state's Arab American voters swung from Bush to the Democrats in 2004, following the Iraq invasion.

The Republicans vote Tuesday in Michigan and candidates Mitt Romney and John McCain are focusing on the economy - who can provide a crutch for the limping state of Michigan?

Meanwhile, the Democratic candidates are still in the spotlight, engaged in an ugly battle not seen every day. A week on since New Hampshire, and the fabricated idyll of black-white relations has made way for political clashes.

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The roots of the clashes was seen Monday in Barack Obama's excellent autobiography, where he admits to using cocaine in his youth - in a similar move to President George Bush's confession ahead of the 2000 elections, where he admitted to heavy drinking in his wild years.

Like Bush, Obama said it was irresponsible behavior that he regretted. When a Clinton aide tried to play the same gambit recently, the candidate fired him. It was too sensitive of a subject. Not anymore.

As the Democratic battle heats up, as Clinton is entangled in questions of race following remarks about Martin Luther King, and, as black South Carolina votes in a week and a half, it seems that the reins have been loosened.

Bob Johnson, an African American Clinton supporter, said of Obama: "Bill and Hillary Clinton were deeply and emotionally involved in 'black' issues, while Obama was doing things in neighborhoods that I won't even say."

He tried to explain afterwards that he meant Obama's "community service," but nobody believes him. How can he be believed?

While the Democratic National Committee is struggling with the question of who is to blame for pulling out the race card, the Republicans are reaching another important stage of the race.

In Michigan, Mitt Romney is trying to maintain his small lead over McCain and salvage his candidacy from an anticipated sad end should he lose again. Speaking to voters, Romney recalled his upbringing in Michigan when it was still the "pride of America." His father, who was chairman of American Motors Corporation (AMC), went on to become governor of Michigan in the 1960s. The name Romney is well-known in Michigan almost as well as in Massachusetts, where his son, Mitt, held the same position.

Romney Jr. is trying to build on the long memories of Michigan voters- his father was extremely successful in the car industry when it was at its zenith. But Romney is also depending on the voters' short-term memories - he himself was also a successful businessman, known for reviving failing companies and turning around the scandal-struck Winter Olympics of 2002.

Romney has it relatively easy against McCain when it comes to the economy, foreign policy or terrorism. In Michigan, where the unemployment rate is the highest in the country (7.4 percent), and with the car industry mired in deep crisis with an uncertain future, this is undoubtedly a hot topic.

(Incidentally, Romney and McCain have opposing messages when it comes to the motor industry. The first promises to reinstate lost jobs; the other acknowledges that those jobs will not come back, but promises to help develop alternative employment.)

If Romney wins in Michigan, he is back on the horse: One state went to Mike Huckabee, one state went to McCain and now there's one for him. There is everything to play for before the battleground moves to South Carolina on Saturday.

Michigan has a sizeable Jewish community, but it is balanced out by the state's Arab American population. Michigan is home to the highest concentration of Arabs in the country. Between 1990 and 2000 the community grew by more than 50 percent, although is important to remember that this a little more than one percent of the entire population of the state.

In 2000, they backed Bush, because of, among other reasons, Al Gore's Jewish running mate Joe Lieberman. In 2004, after 9/11 and the war in Iraq, the community switched its loyalty to Democratic candidate John Kerry. Michigan's Jews, even in Detroit with its large Orthodox community, also vote Democrat - at least according to the data gathered this week by Ira Forman from the National Jewish Democratic Council.

It is uncertain whether Michigan's Arab residents would vote for either Romney or McCain in the presidential election. The positions of both regarding the war on terror and on the Mideast have not persuaded them to abandon the Democrats. This could be significant in a close race in Michigan, a state whose electoral votes went to losing Democratic candidates Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004. One way or the other, the unions or African American voters could prove to be decisive in Michigan.

The state voted Democrat in the last four elections, but before that chose Bush Sr. over Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis (who lost in the Michigan primaries to African American candidate Jesse Jackson). The state voted twice for Ronald Reagan and before that preferred Republican Gerald Ford to Jimmy Carter.

With Michigan seen as a swing state, McCain, Romney or any other Republican must try for a victory not just today, but also in November.

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Democrats woo Jewish, minority vote as primaries heat up

The Israel Factor: Ranking the Presidential Candidates

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1.	Romney Needs a Win	20:11	\|	Carol	15/01/08

2.	Romney Out of The Race	20:39	\|	Chris	15/01/08

3.	Romney won Wyoming Too	21:32	\|	John	15/01/08

4.	Romney	21:42	\|	ron whitmer	15/01/08

5.	the game	00:01	\|	Shmuelshachor	16/01/08

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