Liberman's Possible Presidential Run

December 20, 2002

Source: The Jerusalem Post

On December 20, 2002 The Jerusalem Post reported that "for Lieberman, the 2000 race illustrated that being Jewish - and observant - was not an impediment to seeking the nation's second-highest office. The Gore-Lieberman ticket won half a million more votes than the Bush-Cheney ticket. There were no outward displays of anti-Semitism. And a sluggish Gore, when he selected Lieberman in August 2000, got a huge boost from the Connecticut senator. The US may indeed have been ready for a Jewish vice president in 2000. A 1999 Gallup poll showed 92% of Americans would vote for a Jewish candidate if they thought the person was well qualified (compared to only 46% in a 1937 poll). Still, the question of whether the country - or the world - is ready for a Jewish president, and what impact a Jewish president would have on America's relationships with Israel and the Arab world are already being whispered, if not openly debated."