Shabbat Surfing: Post-Iowa Caucuses

This week, Iowa finally got the ball rolling on the 2012 Republican nomination. While Jews make up just 0.2% of Iowa’s population, the internet was still abuzz about implications for the Jewish community as we get closer to a nominee.

• Mitt Romney won by 8 votes and Shmuel Rosner offers 8 post-caucus comments  that focus on the Jews and Israel.
• Ron Kampeas posits that “there were also (at least) three takeaways for Jewish observers: foreign policy matters, evangelicals matter — and Ron Paul matters.”  
• Rick Perry’s fifth-place finish sent him back to Texas to reassess his campaign. He decided to skip New Hampshire and focus on South Carolina and, along the way, picked up the support of “a ‘New York state veterans support organization’ based in the unlikely precincts of Orthodox Jewish Brooklyn.”  

• It was easy to forget that Democrats in Iowa held caucuses, too. Obama ran unopposed, enthusiastic supporters stressed the importance of organizing, and Allison Hoffman explores what the Obama campaign has done and will need to do to win the Jews.

Next stop, New Hamphire. Shabbat Shalom!