The White House is nurturing a cadre of Generation X Republican Jewish activists, many of them Orthodox, as part of a concerted strategy to boost Republican strength among Jewish voters — and Jewish political donors — in the run-up to the 2004 election.

In private conversations recently, Bush aides have voiced hopes that the president's image as a leader in the war against terrorism will help bring the Republicans a record share of the Jewish vote next year, with some citing figures as high as 40%...

The emergence of an enthusiastic new support base consisting of movers and shakers in their 30s and 40s appears to fly in the face of those analyses, however. While its numbers are not yet large, it has taken on an oversized role in Republican strategy and fundraising in New York and a few other locations, and activists are already talking about mobilizing Jews as a swing vote that can deliver some key Democratic states to the GOP column in 2004.

Verrrrrry interesting. I think there is a very good shot at capturing the young Jewish vote. The older generation is simply too ingrained in the Democratic Party establishment - to their detriment, in my opinion - to be swayed, but their sons and daughters are up for grabs and the Republicans, thank God, seem to grasp that fact. Needless to say, if the Republicans can manage even a substantial dent in the Democrat's Jewish vote, the Dems are done for the next twenty years. I can feel the cockles of my black little heart warming already.