Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama held what may be their final debate of the campaign contest last night.

Our friends at JTA characterize the q&a over Louis Farrakahn as the “most Jewish” moment in the campaign to date, and they have links to several reactions pieces on other sites.

Also of interest, Team Obama seems to have ramped up its Jewish outreach efforts to a higher level – with an exclusive exchange with Yediot, events in Ohio, and Obama’s framing his comments about Farrakahn – which he new he would get asked about last night – in a broader context of restoring the Black-Jewish alliance to its halcyon days.

This is fascinating in that it comes after the Super Tuesday states where the numbers of Jewish voters were greater (although there are approximately 130,000 Jews in Ohio and it’s likely they will comprise at least 5% of the Democratic primary vote). It appears to be part of Obama’s strategy to position himself for the anticipated general election campaign – where he will need to ensure he can maintain the traditionally high level of American Jewish support for the Democratic candidate and prevent John McCain from cutting into that margin more than George W. Bush did in 2004.
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