Political Insider: Just In: McCain Winning the Kippot Wars

It being August, political journalists have to work extra hard to provide you with your daily dose of speculation about this year's presidential race and the all-consuming question of how the Jewish vote is shaping up.

Will Jews defy conservative columnists and stick with the Democrats? Will they embarrass the political scientists so often quoted in these pages and shift in large numbers to the Republicans and this year's GOP champion, Sen. John McCain?

Fortunately, there's some new data just in that may clarify matters: Sen. McCain, it seems, is winning the kippot wars.

Yes indeed, once again that subset of Jews who wear kippot and like to use them to flaunt their political preferences are flocking to a company that offers headgear with both Obama and McCain emblems.

The winner so far? Shmuly Tennenhaus, the Seattle businessman who cooked up this scheme, said his "McKippah" model is selling better than the "Obamica" version.

But not by much; among folks eager to wear political advertising on their heads, McCain is beating Obama 52-48 percent.

This may not be as good news for McCain as it seems, if you buy the notion that the vast majority of kippah buyers are Orthodox, a segment that was seen as his political base in the Jewish community.  Recent polls have shown that Obama has considerable strength among Orthodox voters, and now we have the absolute truth of the kippah count to prove it.

This guy's kippah blog is pretty amusing.  In one item, he attacks the continuing rumors accusing Obama of being a secret Muslim because of his middle name.

"So what about his name?" Shmuly writes. "Whoopi Goldberg isn't Jewish."

Check out his products at this site  and his blog here.

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