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Could AIPAC Faceplant in Illinois?

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Punchbowl News: “AIPAC faces a reckoning in Democratic primaries on Tuesday. The nation’s largest pro-Israel organization is scrambling to regain its footing with a bloc of voters that has grown wary of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s actions in Gaza.”

“This is the high-profile group’s first chance to pivot after its botched strategy in the special election in New Jersey’s 11th District. In that case, AIPAC’s super PAC opened up a path to victory for a candidate strongly critical of Israel.”

“In Illinois, AIPAC formed new outside groups with anodyne names to temper any potential backlash and obscure their intentions from rivals.”

“Yet AIPAC could very well end up electing just one of its four preferred candidates today. Plus, it’s had to be willing to course correct. When AIPAC and its allies couldn’t propel a preferred candidate to victory in an Illinois race, it changed strategy and settled for blocking the candidates it preferred least.”

Politico: AIPAC faces its biggest test this year in Illinois.

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goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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