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Last update - 18:28 24/01/2008 Gaza overlooked by U.S. voters; economy dominates race By Shmuel Rosner, Haaretz Correspondent Tags: Barack Obama  RACE FOR THE WHITE HOUSE: Presidential hopeful Obama backs Israel to UN, calls for condemnation of Qassams. Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, found a short letter in his mailbox two days ago. The sender: Barack Obama. The subject: The Security Council meeting regarding the situation in Gaza. "I urge you to ensure that a Council resolution won't pass that does not "fully condemn" the Qassam attacks on Israel," Obama wrote. "We all are worried about the consequences of the blockade on Palestinian families. Nonetheless, we must understand why Israel is forced to do this." Advertisement Gaza did not terribly concern the American voter in recent weeks. Maybe Wednesday's border infiltration will change the picture slightly, but not more than that. Here is a useful statistic: The week Bush toured the Mideast - a long trip with visits to many countries and important meetings on the peace process, oil, Iran - only 4 percent of this tour was covered by American news. The Pew Research Center, which measured the coverage of the central news items, divided the pie like this: 49 percent for campaign issues, 3 percent to the economy, 3 percent to Iraq, 3 percent to U.S. / Iranian ships, 2 percent to Pakistan and 4 percent to Bush's peace talks. In measuring the public's interest - there is a gap also in the U.S. once in a while between what the public wants to know and what the media reports on - Bush's tour received an even lower percentage: 3 percent. The economy and Iraq - with 14 and 11 percent respectively - were issues that the media did not cover accordingly. Anyway, Obama's letter was not meant to respond to the urgent needs of the voters, but to continue the necessary process of recent weeks: Combating the rumors that he would be a president who does not support Israel, and even worse, rumors claiming he is Muslim, and that he doesn't tend to pledge his allegiance to his country, and so on and so forth. It is not by chance he is being photographed at more churches lately - and explicitly stating he is a Christian. It is not by chance he decided to get involved with the Gaza issue; no other campaign commented about the issue in detail Wednesday. And as Obama tries to ensure a victory in the significant test on Saturday in South Carolina, the Republicans are busy in Florida. The next two weeks will be very busy for the American news media, leaving little room for incidents in the Middle East: there are primaries in South Carolina, then in Florida, and then its Super Tuesday - but even before that there's an event no less important, the Super Bowl, and later there is Bush's State of the Union address. And until it's clear what steps the government will take to avoid recession, the pained economy will be at the top of the daily agenda. John McCain's worry John McCain, who gains fans from day to day, has encountered his first weakness; the campaign issue, it seems, will be the economy, and not security. He has admitted he understands little on the subject. Mitt Romney is trying to attack on exactly this point: America needs a businessman at the top, he tells the voters who are turning their attention from Iraq to money concerns. In Florida, he is likely to surprise and win, mostly due to the competition between McCain and Rudolph Giuliani, who will steal each other's voters. The severity of Giuliani's situation showed in the (respected) survey of Quinnipiac University: Even in New York, Giuliani's home state, he may not beat McCain, as both candidates are polling at 30 percent support. Giuliani's successor as mayor in New York City, Michael Bloomberg, is considering running for president but, according to a Quinnipiac survey, residents want him to run for governor. Nonetheless, 34 percent of those asked say they would vote for Bloomberg if he runs for president, and 52 percent are sure he would be a good president. Jon Voight (known to some as Angelina Jolie's father, to others as an Oscar-winning actor) isn't so sure. Voight is the top celebrity endorsing Giuliani. In an e-mail sent this week he said, "Rudy Giuliani grew up in New York City, which has the largest Jewish population outside of Israel. There is no other candidate running who has closer ties and understands, respects, and loves the Jewish people as does Rudy Giuliani." And what's good for New York's Jews, he hopes, is good for Florida's Jews as well - many of them are New Yorkers who have retired to Florida. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Love story Israel permits gay Palestinian to join his lover in Tel Aviv. Interfaith get-together Saudi King plans first interfaith conference to include Jews.   1.   The Pied-Piper From Arizona 16:18  |  Tony Anthony 24/01/08   2.   American overlook Gaza? Not so sure about that. 18:37  |  Tom 24/01/08   3.   american people do not care about israel only IPAC does 18:56  |  MAROCHKA 24/01/08   4.   #2 - Tom 19:02  |  MichaelF 24/01/08   5.   Obama is bad for Jews 19:08  |  American Rabbi 24/01/08   6.   America and Gaza 19:46  |  JZ 24/01/08   7.   Collective punishment 21:10  |  hvs 24/01/08   8.   Why would americans care about palestinians?? 21:19  |  Voice of Reason 24/01/08   9.   American reponse to Gaza 21:21  |  David 24/01/08   10.   No where are there such opposites RIGHT ??? 21:57  |  M. S. 24/01/08   11.   America is Israel`s backyard and Israel is Gaza`s backyard. 23:09  |  Andreas 24/01/08   12.   haha #3 23:23  |  Faris 24/01/08   13.   "even worse- that he is a Muslim" 23:42  |  Tarik 24/01/08   14.   Tom (Americans Overlook Gaza) 00:43  |  Chris 25/01/08   15.   #10 Tarik 01:09  |  Sam 25/01/08   16.   Gaza is US worry 01:16  |  Friend 25/01/08   17.   LOng Live Isreal 02:18  |  Nasim Bin Yehud 25/01/08   18.   Just cause 02:52  |  khune 25/01/08   19.   Why should we care? 04:38  |  Mark Lincoln 25/01/08   20.   obama 04:42  |  aipacaipacaipac 25/01/08   21.   Who is the worst enemy of Israel? 04:44  |  Mark Lincoln 25/01/08   22.   I overlook my toilet this morning 07:20  |  Absent minded 25/01/08   23.   To Tarick # 13 07:23  |  Freedom Fighter 25/01/08   24.   What you don`t see in America media 09:16  |  Ari 25/01/08   25.   some Americans are so stupid 18:00  |  DB 25/01/08   26.   #23 FREEDOM FIGHTER 19:59  |  JH 25/01/08   27.   OBAMA PANDERS FOR PRO-ISRALEI DONERS 20:54  |  JH 25/01/08   28.   It doesnt take much to become a prostitute 19:47  |  Ben 26/01/08   29.   Re Tarik - I agree 09:01  |  tina 27/01/08   30.   Deep pockets control media agendas 07:56  |  Solidarity 26/03/08

Today Online Blair: Middle East peace process a 'race against time' Responses: 51 Mubarak: Gaza tension brings Iran threat closer Responses: 22 Zvi Bar'el: Keeping Iran from 'members-only' Arab club Responses: 4 PA fails in fight against terror, U.S. officials determine Responses: 6 Top Fatah official: Housing Min. inviting Palestinians to start a fresh Intifada Send response Rosner's Domain Obama advisor blasts 'NY, Miami' for failed peace process Slight preference for Clinton among Jewish Democrats Kurtzer: The pro-Israel lobby, not obstacle for peace Is bar mitzvah more important than Christmas tree? Govt. to appeal ruling on classified material in AIPAC trial More Headlines 07:11 Mubarak: Gaza tension brings Iran threat closer 03:30 ANALYSIS: Keeping Iran away from 'members-only' Arab club 09:31 PA fails in fight against terror, U.S. officials determine 07:18 Barak approves five mobile homes for Hebron Hills settlement 07:20 Blair: Middle East peace process is a race against time 09:16 IDF arrests top PFLP operative involved in death of soldier 09:26 Traditional Hebrew calligraphy swirls into cutting-edge font 02:06 Israeli study provides first proof that raising dogs helps kids' health 01:22 Haaretz's Rosner, Kashti get B'nai B'rith journalism prizes 05:56 Top policeman slams minister's plan to shorten statute of limitations 02:29 Eight social organizations to get Israel Prize on country's 60th 08:31 Rubinstein Piano Competition / The heat that shuffled the deck Previous Editions Select Day 25 mar 24 mar 23 mar 21 mar 20 mar 19 mar 18 mar 17 mar 16 mar 14 mar 13 mar 12 mar

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