Hillary campaign trips in panic over race slur claims

Hillary Rodham Clinton is battling criticism that her Senate campaign over-reacted to a claim that she once called one of her husband's political aides a "f---ing Jew bastard" and that it asked supporters in the Jewish community last week to lie on her behalf.

Hillary Rodham Clinton is battling criticism that her Senate campaign over-reacted to a claim that she once called one of her husband's political aides a "f---ing Jew bastard" and that it asked supporters in the Jewish community last week to lie on her behalf.

The Clinton camp went into full panic mode the instant the charge surfaced one week ago, sources reveal. That reflected deep anxiety both about the state of the election race generally - she remains neck and neck with her Republican foe, Rick Lazio - and about the softness of support for her among Jews. Some in the Jewish community resent her support of the Palestinian cause.

She authorised a full-bore counter-attack, even though the claim, made in a forthcoming biography of the First Lady by Jerry Oppenheimer, seemed barely credible. Mr Oppenheimer is a former National Enquirer reporter. Mrs Clinton, meanwhile, has no record of anti-Semitism. According to Mr Oppenheimer, she yelled the slur at Paul Fray in 1974 when Bill Clinton lost a bid for a seat in Congress.

Even by last Monday, the First Lady might have considered herself protected from real damage after all three of the country's main Jewish organisations issued statements decrying Mr Oppenheimer's reporting as unbelievable and clearing both her and Mr Lazio of any anti-Semitism.

Lying low, however, was quickly dismissed as an option at a crisis meeting of top campaign managers, according to sources inside the Clinton camp. Jews account for 13 per cent of voters in New York state and shoring up support among them has become critical for the First Lady.

Polls show that for now she can count on the support of about 50 per cent of the Jewish vote, a figure that is disappointingly low. Political wisdom has it that any Democrat contender for statewide office in New York must attract a large majority of Jewish voters.

Mrs Clinton and her aides discussed three strategies to counter the claim. They considered calling a press conference with her appearing alongside Jewish leaders, placing advertisements defending her record in New York's Jewish newspapers or asking prominent Jewish supporters to telephone reporters on those newspapers to reassure them about the First Lady's record.

They chose the last option. However, the decision backfired badly late last week when a memo laying out the plan leaked to the press. Most damaging was the fact that supporters were warned they should not reveal who had asked them to place the calls.

Written by an aide, the memo is on Hillary Clinton headed paper. "I would appreciate it if you could call these people as concerned citizens (It is important that you do not say that you are calling because the campaign asked you to, but because you are outraged with what was said about her)."

One of those journalists targeted was Adam Dickter of The Jewish Week. He describes receiving a stream of calls all of a sudden from people he would otherwise never hope to hear from. Mr Dickter says it was a clumsy and desperate stunt, which may have damaged Mrs Clinton more than Mr Oppenheimer's claims.

"Her campaign has really got a black eye over this memo, because there was clearly a request to lie implied in it," he commented. "Questions of truthfulness have always been an issue in both the Clinton administrations as we all know." Like many, Mr Dickter believes Mrs Clinton would have been well advised to have waited for the fuss to blow over.

Yet there was some solace for the First Lady in a Daily News survey released on Friday. It found that fewer than one in five Jews inside New York City believed that she had ever uttered the slur.