Politicis 88 : N.Y. Jewish Vote : Gore Backers Fear They’ll Help Jackson

As Sen. Albert Gore Jr. pins his hopes on marshaling this city’s enormous Jewish vote, some potential supporters are struggling with mixed feelings about the Tennessee Democrat:

They like his pro-Israel record and rhetoric but fear that voting for Gore in the April 19 New York primary will indirectly help the Rev. Jesse Jackson, whose relations with Jews have been stormy.

Convinced that the underdog Gore cannot win, they worry that supporting him will splinter the white vote and boost Jackson’s chances.

“I like Gore better than (Massachusetts Gov. Michael S.) Dukakis, but he doesn’t have a chance,” said Retter Abrahams, one of hundreds who gathered Sunday to hear Gore speak in Borough Park, an area in Brooklyn where more than 80,000 Hasidic Jews live.

A vote for Dukakis, he said, is the best way to “knock Jackson down.” Others echoed his assessment.

255 Delegates at Stake

The New York primary, in which 255 delegates will be elected, is seen as Gore’s most crucial test. It offers him a chance to prove that he can appeal to large numbers of voters outside the South.

But if ambivalence among Jewish voters proves widespread, a major element of Gore’s New York campaign strategy could backfire.

Gore has wooed Jewish voters here so ardently that some of his critics have accused him of pandering to them. Jews are expected to cast between one-fifth and one-third of all Democratic primary votes.

One area where Gore has scored points among some Jewish voters is by criticizing Jackson outright--something Dukakis has avoided.

“Keep it up with Jackson! Keep it up!” one man yelled as Gore made his way through Borough Park.

Bid to Heal Rift

While Jackson has attempted to heal his rift with the Jewish community, it has not forgotten his 1984 reference to New York with the slur “Hymietown”--for which Jackson later apologized--or his association with Yasser Arafat, leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

On CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Jackson said his meeting with Arafat several years ago was “for the sole purpose of challenging him to change his posture and move toward a mutual recognition policy with Israel.”

Gore campaign manager Fred Martin dismissed suggestions that the senator may lose Jewish votes because his candidacy is seen as ultimately beneficial to Jackson.

Martin said that line of reasoning is “something that the Dukakis campaign is peddling” and is “an implicitly racist argument.”

Endorsement of Gore

However, Borough Park state Assemblyman Dov Hikind was clearly trying to address the concern when he endorsed Gore publicly on Sunday.

“A vote for Gore is a vote for Gore,” he said in an apparent effort to allay fears that supporting the senator could have wider repercussions.

Hikind brought boos from the crowd, many of them wearing the traditional black hats of the Hasidim, when he said: “We want to understand when one of the candidates has embraced Yasser Arafat.”

Hikind described Gore as “the only one who has had the courage to criticize Jackson.”

Gore, however, did not mention Jackson in his remarks, saying instead that in his years in Congress: “I have stood fast in support of Israel and a strong U.S.-Israeli relationship.”

Stresses Drug Fight

Campaigning here and in Rockland County, Gore put new emphasis on fighting drugs, an issue that has been at the heart of Jackson’s campaign.

The Reagan Administration, Gore said, “declared war against drugs and so far the drugs are winning.” Vice President George Bush, the virtually certain GOP nominee, headed the White House’s task force against drugs.

“I pledge to you as President of the United States I will wage an all-out war against drugs in this country,” including possibly deploying the military to halt the flow of narcotics across U.S. borders, Gore said.

Meanwhile, Bush, whose path to the Republican presidential nomination is clear of serious opposition, took a day off from campaigning.

And Dukakis, the front-runner in the Democratic contest, spent Sunday celebrating Greek Easter with his family.