Obama Election Watch

There is no official Census data on the number of Muslim Americans living in the United States. Estimates range from 3 million to as many as 10 million.

But most analysts are confident that there are at least 400,000 Muslim Americans living in the state of Michigan. And it is estimated they may make up as much as 4 percent of the total electorate in the state. This is the largest presence of Muslims in any state in the nation. Muslims in Michigan include the nation’s largest pockets of Arab Americans, as well as followers of Islam from Pakistan, Iran, and Indonesia. There are also large numbers of Black Muslims — African Americans who have converted to Islam.

The city of Dearborn, Michigan, has a larger percentage of Arab Americans than any other American city. Thirty percent of Dearborn’s population is of Arab descent. Hospitals in Dearborn and McDonald’s restaurants in the city serve meat prepared in accordance with Muslim law.

Muslim Americans have voter turnout rates significantly higher than other Americans. Although relatively small in total numbers, the Muslim-American vote assumes great importance because the margin of victory in recent presidential elections in Michigan has been very small. Therefore, the Muslim-American vote could be critical to the outcome in Michigan this coming November.

It is important for the Obama campaign to give careful consideration to measures for winning votes in Muslim communities of Michigan. It must be remembered, too, that Michigan, with its very large bloc of 17 electoral votes, could — like Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004 — be the state that swings the entire presidential election to the candidate who carries the state.

Obviously, Obama must tread lightly in any effort to reach out to the Muslim-American community in Michigan. Appearances must be avoided that will reinforce, or reignite, rumors that Obama is a Muslim. Recently, these rumors were fueled by a widely publicized New Yorker magazine cover depicting Obama in Muslim garb and Michelle Obama as a machine gun-toting terrorist.

So far, the Obama campaign has faltered in relations with the Muslim-American voting bloc in Michigan. Overall, Obama has held 13 events in Michigan. But he has not met with any Arab or Muslim leaders in the state.

When Obama visited the state in June, his campaign volunteers asked two Muslim women to move so they would not be seen on television at an Obama rally in Michigan. Many members of the state’s large Muslim population were offended.

Many Muslims in Michigan were offended, too, when Obama chose on his FightTheSmears.com Web site to refute the false charge that he is a Muslim. Obviously, for Muslims in Michigan and elsewhere, being called a Muslim is not considered a smear but a badge of honor and holiness.

Obama has the advantage that Muslim-American voters are natural allies of the Democratic Party. Many Muslim Americans are insulted and angry as a result of Bush’s racial profiling tactics that keep them under constant surveillance because they are viewed as possible enemies of the United States.

There are some possible initiatives that the Obama campaign may consider to reach out to Muslim Americans in Michigan without offending other important voting constituencies and without giving weight to false rumors that Obama is a Muslim:

• Obama can enlist the support of Minnesota congressman Keith Ellison and Indiana congressman Andre Carson, both of whom are African-American Muslims. These congressmen will be warmly received by Muslims in Michigan and voters will listen to their appeals to support the Obama campaign.

• Private meetings and telephone conversations may be held with Arab-American leaders in Michigan. These leaders include Andrea Awada, the president of the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services, Wafa Salah, president of the Detroit chapter of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Ismael Ahmed, director of the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, and Fay Beydoun of Dearborn, vice president of the U.S. Arab Economic Forum and who led the national Women for Kerry organization in 2004.

• Obama’s staffers might enlist the support of Osama Siblani, president of the Arab American Political Action Committee and publisher of the Arab American News. He could take valuable steps to drum up support for Obama among his 30,000 readers.

• Obama supporters among students at the Center for Arab American Studies at the University of Michigan at Dearborn and at the Muslim Student Association at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor may be encouraged to campaign for Obama in their home neighborhoods.

Lurking on the horizon is the prospect of Ralph Nader appearing on the ballot in Michigan as a presidential candidate. Nader is of Lebanese descent. Some political observers believe that Nader could siphon off 25 percent of the Arab-American vote in Michigan if he succeeds in securing a place on the ballot. Obama’s campaign must convince Michigan voters that casting a ballot for Nader is equivalent to voting for John McCain.

OEW readers are invited to submit comments. How is Obama to deal with this delicate issue of enlisting the important Muslim-American vote in Michigan? Is there a case to be made that the Obama campaign should altogether ignore the Muslim-American vote in this important battleground state?