Campaigns go head-to-head on Wednesday morning

Both the Barack Obama and John McCain campaigns will be courting American Jews at the very same time on Wednesday morning.

At 11:15 a.m., JTA has learned that Obama will speak to rabbis around the country on a campaign conference call. Rabbi Sam Gordon, co-chair of Rabbis for Obama, said he believes this is a “truly unprecedented” situation for a presidential candidate to speak to “all American rabbis” at once, and demonstrates how much the Democrat values the role of rabbis. (All rabbis are invited, not just those who are part of Rabbis for Obama.)

Mark Broxmeyer, chair of Jewish outreach for the McCain campaign, said he expected about 30 people to attend Wednesday’s 11 a.m. meeting at McCain headquarters in Arlington, Va. The group will include a “wide cross section” of supporters and others who have “expressed interest” in the campaign. The campaign’s director of foreign policy and national security, Randy Scheunemann, are among those that will speak at the event and campaign strategy and message will be discussed.

Broxmeyer said Wednesday’s briefing is one of a serious of similar events the campaign has sponsored for Jewish leaders, including one scheduled for Thursday in Philadelphia and another earlier this month at the Republican National Convention and in New York. The campaign also brought on a staffer, Jennifer Sutton, a couple months ago to work specifically on Jewish outreach.