Jews for Kerry like to say that Kerry has a perfect AIPAC record (even if most of the time liberal American Jews think AIPAC is a right wing embarrassment). Human rights lawyer Anne Bayefsky - who has written at length about the UN's treatment of Israel - trumps that rather passive accomplishment with Bush's actual record on Israel. It's easy and uncontroversial to vote for Israel in the Senate (when you bother to show up); it's harder to stand up to international pressure when you're the leader of the free world.

The Democratic party has quite a few outspoken critics of Israel in its ranks who could bring their influence to bear. As an Israeli official said this week: If Kerry wins, his administration "will butcher us on the humanitarian issue" - meaning that Israel's freedom of action in the territories will be severely curbed (which, of course, will make plenty of Jews happy, in Israel and America). He also mentioned Kerry's accentuation of "partners" in the international community - a partnership that will be costly for Israel. "These are things that should scare the Jews," says [Tevy Troy, Bush campaign adviser].

Troy admits that Kerry has always voted for Israel in the Senate. He admits it, but is not impressed. "He toed the AIPAC line, but not more than that. He only did the minimum," says Troy. Kerry's brother, Cameron, was in Israel a few months ago. Interviewed by Haaretz, he said the Democratic candidate had a "long history of support for Israel," and assured us that "the Kerry administration will not compromise on Israel's security and well-being." A member of AIPAC . . . explains that there is no real contradiction between what Troy says and what Kerry's brother says. Kerry does indeed have a history of support for Israel, but he has never been much of an activist in this regard.

I knew Meryl was going to vote for Bush practically since our online friendship began, but apparently her relatives are only now finding out. They don't read her blog?

I disagree with nearly every single part of George Bush's domestic policies. I am pro-gay rights, pro-choice, pro-stem cell research, against huge tax cuts for big business, not a strict constructionist regarding Supreme Court Justices. I am in favor of unions (or at least, what unions were supposed to be), affirmative action, and most of the rest of the liberal agenda.

But the war trumps everything. . . . I don't trust John Kerry to ensure my safety, and the safety of my country. Congress can take care of the domestic issues. I'm voting for Bush for President on Tuesday.

Jews for George, in Michigan, has a video of Ed Koch speaking in West Bloomfield.

UPDATE: The condo wars continue. Florida Jews argue vociferously with each other as the candidates woo them.

. . . the Kerry campaign this week dispatched former President Clinton to speak to 2,000 supporters at a synagogue in Boca Raton and organized what was billed as a two-day "Jewish bus tour," featuring the Democratic candidate's brother, Cameron Kerry, a convert to Judaism; attorney Alan Dershowitz; comedian Larry David; Senator Joseph Lieberman, and several other Democratic congressmen.

Republicans, for their part, have mounted a similar "Jewish" surrogate program for Bush. Former New York mayors Ed Koch and Rudolph Giuliani, both popular figures with Jewish Floridians who hail from the Big Apple, filmed an advertisement together for Bush that will be aired in the area. Koch, former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, Bush fund-raiser Fred Zeidman, Orthodox outreach maven Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis and former White House aide Jay Lefkowitz all have been stumping recently at Jewish venues in Florida. A GOP source said that in the final weekend, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, Josh Bolten, the only Jewish Bush Cabinet member, and New York Governor George Pataki would be heading south.

When former New York City Mayor Ed Koch asks the largely senior citizen audience, munching on kosher turkey wraps and pickles at the Aventura-Turnberry Jewish Center, whether they are voting for President Bush, almost all of the hands go up in the air. Mark Marmer has already worked the crowd. The 35-year-old lawyer from Palm Beach Gardens is taking off every day he can until Election Day to talk to Jewish voters about the benefits of the Republican ticket. He says he has run across many Jewish voters who back Bush�s Middle East policy, but feel as if their arms would fall off if they cast a vote for a Republican. �There is a need to make people feel comfortable, but not on Israel,� Marmer said. �To a lot of people of this generation, I tell them the Democratic Party is not the Democratic Party it used to be. I tell them they are not going in there to vote for FDR.�

Miami's 10,000 Cuban Jews are also divided.

More Jews for Bush in traditionally Democratic locations:

Hillel Zaremba . . . a lifelong Democrat who says he will vote for Bush both because of the president�s support for Israel and because of what he calls the Democratic Party�s pandering, vitriol and swing to the fringe, said his friendships with fellow members of his Conservative synagogue have suffered as he has become a more vocal supporter of the president. �Do you have any idea of how it feels to be in a community where your viewpoint is constantly disparaged?� he said. �There are certain relationships that I had with people that I believe have dissipated or been strained by my support for Bush. I find that incredibly saddening.�

In the San Francisco area, a Democratic bastion, a group of right-wing Jews launched a local chapter of the Republican Jewish Coalition. �We used to feel we couldn�t confess our Republicanism in public,� said Ken Wornick, one of the chapter�s organizers. �At the seder, the break-fast, even at Jewish institutional board meetings, there was such intense condescension. Not only did we hesitate to mention our being Republican, since no one was willing to say it, we didn�t even know how many of us there were.�

Michael Oren - author of Six Days of War: June 1968 and the Making of the Modern Middle East - analyzes the two candidates' approaches to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and finds real differences between their positions.

Richard Holbrooke is backpedaling on his "pressure on Israel" remark.

Holbrooke said Kerry advocated the appointment of a special envoy to the Middle East. Holbrooke repeatedly stressed during his keynote speech Sunday that such a resumption of high-level American diplomatic engagement in the region would not translate into added pressure on Israel. "Having an envoy and a renewed engagement in the region will not be at Israel's expense," he said, noting that Kerry's intentions had been misrepresented. "But such a U.S. presence has been missing for three years and it is of value for Israel, especially when it comes to pressuring Arab countries like Egypt, Syria, on behalf of Israel."

. . . He added that mention in a December speech of former presidents Clinton, Bush and Carter and former secretary of state James Baker as possible special envoys were premature and that no decision had been made about the identity of such an envoy. Carter and Baker are especially unpopular figures in the Jewish community, and Kerry has since said they were included in the speech by mistake.