U.S. Arab voting clout grows

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

http://www.detnews.com/2003/politics/0310/17/d01-300124.htm

DEARBORN -- The numbers tantalize political operatives.

Some 2.3 million Arab-Americans are clustered in Michigan and six other states considered up for grabs in the 2004 presidential election. As a group, they mark ballots with greater regularity than the general population. Voting together, they could decide a close election.

If only it were that easy.

Eight Democratic presidential candidates scheduled to address the Arab American Institute's national leadership conference starting today in Dearborn may learn there's no such thing as a single Arab voice, unified concern or sure vote.

"Everyone's all over the map politically," said Youssef Fawaz, 20, of Canton Township, whose grandparents immigrated from Lebanon. "Don't think that all we care about is Lebanon this or Palestine that. Don't baby us. We may be a swing vote, but we care about other issues."

The expected appearances from Democrats may mark the acme of a decades-long struggle for political recognition by the Arab-American establishment. But they come as long-brewing disagreements within the hardly homogenous community increase over tensions about the Iraq war.

"You can take the people out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the people," said Tarik Daoud of Bloomfield Hills, who is of Chaldean descent and owns two car dealerships. "They bring their old animosities, old conflicts and old grudges here to America."

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