Jewish Democrats Welcome Switch by Specter

WASHINGTON, April 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Ira N. Forman, Executive
Director of the National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC), released the
following statement:

The National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) welcomes Pennsylvania Senator
Arlen Specter to the Democratic Party.

The Democratic Party of 2009 is an inclusive party that believes political
parties should be big tents. In contrast, the Republican Party of 2009 is a
party which believes in circling the wagons into an ever smaller and smaller
circle until only the ideologically pure are welcome. Senator Specter has been
a Republican since 1966 but he has never been a conservative ideologue. It
has become increasingly clear in recent years that he is not ideologically
pure enough for the Republican activists of today.

The Republican Party's continued shift to the right has had negative
implications for GOP support in the Jewish community. Despite the fact that in
every election cycle conservative Jewish activists claim that Jews are
becoming more Republican, the Jewish vote for Republicans at the national
level is stuck at about 20%. Moreover, over the last decade there are fewer
and fewer Republican Jewish office holders at the national level.

With Specter joining the Democratic Party, he becomes the 12th member of the
Senate that is Jewish and caucuses with the Democrats. When Al Franken,
another Jewish Democrat, gets seated as the second Minnesota senator, there
will be 13 Jewish senators who caucus with the Democrats in the Senate
(compared to zero who caucus with the GOP). Democrats will then have 60 seats
in the Senate, reducing the possibility of Republican filibusters.

Founded in 1990, the National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) is the national
voice of Jewish Democrats. NJDC is committed to those values that we share
with the Democratic Party and the vast majority of American Jews including the
separation of church and state, a strong U.S.-Israel relationship, and
reproductive freedom.

SOURCE National Jewish Democratic Council

Aaron Keyak of the National Jewish Democratic Council, +1-202-216-9060
(office), +1-202-905-6361 (cell), aaron@njdc.org