William C. Thompson Jr. is a progressive black Democrat running for mayor of New York, and he’s courting Jewish voters, according to this profile by David Chen in the Times. Thompson went to AIPAC, the Israel lobby, and evidently agreed with Dick Cheney there.

Mr. Thompson’s courtship of Jewish voters is emblematic of calculations being made by all of the candidates: perhaps 600,000 New Yorkers are expected to participate in the Democratic primary, and many of those voters are expected to be black or Jewish…. Mr. Thompson said he was the first comptroller to make city investments in Israeli bonds. He also took part in a panel, at a 2007 conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee headlined by Vice President Dick Cheney, on financial sanctions against “Iran and other state sponsors of terror.”

This is the PEP paradox. Progressive Except Palestine. Connecticut Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal was ranked the most liberal senator in the nation, by National Journal two days ago.

But as we reported during the Chuck Hagel confirmation hearing, Blumenthal is a hawk on Israel; he called on Hagel to correct his error of 13 years ago and endorse a letter he had declined to sign in 2000, which was signed by 96 Senators affirming their solidarity with Israel during the Second Intifada. Blumenthal lectured Hagel:

And I just want to say about that letter: I wasn’t here when the letter was circulated; I would have signed it. But I would certainly join in urging that you reconsider and commit to the statement of support in the letter for the support of Israel. And if it’s appropriate now and applicable to today’s events, I hope you will consider expressing your support for it.

Thanks to Scott McConnell. And oh: Alex Kane covered the fact that Bill Thompson has allied himself with Assemblyman Dov Hikind a couple weeks ago.