http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20010130/aponline150101_001.htm
U.S. Aides Hired for Israel Vote
By Will Lester
Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2001; 3:01 p.m. ESTWASHINGTON –– The same American
political advisers have traveled to Israel to help again in an election for
prime minister, but the political landscape is drastically different from two
years ago.
Arthur Finkelstein, the Republican political consultant advising Gen. Ariel
Sharon, is engaged more in warm and fuzzy image-making these days than the
pointed, repetitive negative advertising that has marked many past campaigns
of the GOP pollster from New York.
Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg and image maker Bob Shrum, who work with
the campaign of Prime Minister Ehud Barak, have had more experience over the
last decade selling a candidate's skills with the economy. That strategy
worked well for former President Clinton and later for Barak in 1999, but
this campaign is focused more on the dangers of war if Barak loses.
The use of American consultants in Israel grew popular in the mid 1980s and
gained an even higher profile in the past five years.
"I'm not sure it's an advantage," said Israeli political scientist Abraham
Diskin. "Candidates are doing it mainly as a therapy because they are under
great pressure."
The political situation has changed dramatically in Israel, which is facing
some of its worst violence and most tense relations with Palestinians in
decades. That has had an effect on the candidates' campaigns.
During the successful 1996 campaign that Benjamin Netanyahu ran against
Shimon Peres, Finkelstein used campaign ads that included shocking images of
terror attacks. They painted Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as the main
beneficiary of the peace process and boosted Netanyahu as tougher than the
Labor Party on security. A similar approach was used in 1999.
Finkelstein has worked for some of this country's well-known conservatives,
including Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina and former Sen. Alfonse D'Amato
of New York.
Sharon campaign spokesman Jonathan Becker said the campaign uses Finkelstein
as "general adviser who sits in the same meetings as the other strategists.
Although he does not have a veto, he has experience so people listen to him."
In 1999, Labor Party candidate Barak hired Greenberg, Shrum and Democratic
strategist James Carville, who ran his campaign on the economy so effectively
that security concerns, usually the top issue in Israel, virtually vanished
from the debate. Carville didn't join Greenberg and Shrum in Israel this
time. The Barak campaign is run by the Israelis, who are advised by Greenberg
and Shrum.
The Israeli election is set for Feb. 6 and Sharon has had a double-digit lead
in the polls.
"Sharon has had a very upbeat strategy, full of promise, smiling songs, very
lighthearted, extremely vague, to say as little as possible about his plan,
while assuring he will bring Israel both peace and security," said Gadi
Wolfsfeld, a political communications specialist at Hebrew University. "Barak
has had the opposite intention, to heat up the campaign, to discredit Sharon
as an extremist and connect him with his more extremist allies.
"Barak's 1999 campaign was enthusiastic and full of volunteers, it was easy
for Greenberg and Shrum to keep him on message, the economy," said Wolfsfeld,
noting they reassured voters Barak was one of the most decorated generals in
Israel's history.
Barak has been contending this time with public anxiety over the Palestinian
conflicts. He's expressed regrets over the violence and has worked feverishy
for an elusive peace agreement. One of his ads spelled out concessions that
would be needed to achieve peace. Another offered images of war with the
Arabs if Sharon should win.
On the other side, one Sharon ad pictures him walking through a field in
jeans and a casual shirt with a child on his shoulders. The criticism of
Barak in most of the Sharon ads has been muted, analysts say, though the ads
contend that Israelis have been disappointed in Barak's leadership.
The use of American political expertise in elections has become increasingly
common overseas, especially in Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.
"Polling expertise originated in the United States," said political scientist
Robert Shapiro of Columbia University, a specialist in public opinion.
"Polling and consultants are tools for political candidates in democracies.
What's required is open, competitive elections and candidates in political
parties that have money."
