DSBPI is trying to answer to question: Is Dean good for the Jews?

Our initial hypothesis was "no." This hypothesis is primarily based on the success of Dean's grassroot campaign in enabling Dean to avoid the usual king makers of the democratic party with their attendant Jewish influence. Further, Dean's anti-Iraq war stance is not compatible with Israel's national security. He has also made a few verbal snafus in calling Hamas terrorists "soldiers" and calling for a more "evenhanded" approach to the PA (although we do think those were just beginner mistakes). And Dean has recently appointed Clyde Prestowitz to his foreign policy team, an author who calls for making America's aid to Israel contingent on an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza and has said that America's Jewish lobby has prevented successive presidents from properly pressuring Israel.

On the other hand, DSBPI would like to highlight the often overlooked fact that Gov. Dean went to medical school at Yeshiva University's Albert Einstein College of Medicine. That's right, he's a YU boy. Further, according to DSBPI research, Dean was in Israel one year ago last week on an AIPAC sponsored trip where he called for the ouster of Arafat and the approval of US loan guarantees. The co-chairman of Dean's campaign, Steve Grossman, has served as president of AIPAC and Dean has brought Matthew Dorf, the former bureau chief of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, on board to do outreach for Dean in the Jewish community. Jeremy Ben-Ami, fresh from a stint at the New Israel Fund, is Dean's Policy Director. Finally, Dean is an outspoken critic of House of Saud.

While DSBPI still holds on to its initial hypothesis, we will be tracking the candidate and digging through Lexis to fine tune the analysis.