On This Date in Minnesota History: November 1

November 1, 1990 – A letter addressed to "friends in the Jewish Community" was mailed on this date, “just days before voters were going to the polls to decide between [U.S. Sen. Rudy Boschwitz] and underdog Paul Wellstone.”¹ Printed on Boschwitz campaign stationery and mailed at campaign expense, the letter was written by two of Boschwitz's Jewish supporters and signed by them and 70 others.² 

The gist of the message was “that Wellstone, who was Jewish, had ‘no connection whatsoever with the Jewish community.’ It [also] mentioned that Wellstone was married to a Christian, while Boschwitz was known as ‘the rabbi of the Senate.’”  Instead of pulling the Jewish together for Boschwitz, the letter had the opposite effect. It reportedly “generated angry discussion among Jews in Israel and the United States.”²  As a result, Boschwitz lost the race for senate.  

¹http://www.minnpost.com/politics-policy/2010/04/seifert-emmer-flap-prompts-familiar-minnesota-memories-and-question-will-it-

²http://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/10/us/ousted-senator-apologizes-for-letter-to-jews.html

U.S. Sen. Rudy Boschwitz

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:RudyBoschwitz.jpg

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