In Georgia, a Race Too Close to Call
No one would confuse the leafy suburban streets of Georgia's Fourth Congressional District with a seaside boulevard in Tel Aviv or with the dusty roads that crisscross the West Bank.

But the issues of war and peace in the Middle East may be what decide the primary on Tuesday between two African-American women battling for the Democratic nomination for this district's seat in the House. Recent polls suggest that the race between Representative Cynthia A. McKinney, a five-term incumbent who has received substantial financial backing from Arab-Americans, and Denise Majette, a former state judge supported by pro-Israel groups, is too close to call.

"This is turning into a small proxy war — a little, Middle East proxy war," said Khalil E. Jahshan, executive vice president of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in Washington.

Ms. McKinney has received campaign contributions from Arab-Americans around the country, including several who have come under scrutiny by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for possible terrorist links. Some of her contributors turned up as defendants in a $1 trillion lawsuit filed last week in Washington by families of Sept. 11 victims; the suit accuses them of being "enablers of terrorism."

Ms. Majette has received donations from Jews from outside Georgia, raising almost twice as much over all as Ms. McKinney, more than $1.1 million versus about $640,000 for the incumbent. The challenger has accused Ms. McKinney of taking money from "people who have been named as Arab terrorists."

Ms. McKinney and her spokesmen, who did not return phone calls for comment, have defended the contributions as legal, and have suggested there is no need to return the money.

The races in Alabama and Georgia are seen as evidence of new strains between African-Americans and Jewish Americans, who for decades were seen as unshakable political allies, given their shared history of discrimination. "Unfortunately, this is symptomatic of the tensions between the black and Jewish communities," said Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League in New York, which is traditionally aligned with Jewish and pro-Israel groups.

But, Mr. Foxman said, it made sense that Jewish Americans would want to contribute to efforts to replace Ms. McKinney and Mr. Hilliard because of the lawmakers' records on matters of interest to the Jewish community.

Ms. McKinney, a 47-year-old educator-turned-politician with a liberal voting record and a confrontational style, is known in Congress for statements that border on the outrageous.

After Sept. 11, she suggested that President Bush ignored warnings of the attacks because a war on terrorism would be good for businesses allied with the Bush family. Senator Zell Miller, a fellow Georgia Democrat, described her accusations as "looney." Last fall, she apologized to a Saudi prince whose $10 million donation of relief aid to New York City was rejected by Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani because of the prince's assertion that American foreign policy was partly to blame for the attacks.
In Georgia, a Race Too Close to Call