Little-known figure emerges as Arab American voice

One by one, beginning with Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., members of Congress, seven more senators and other powerful friends called the president of the Arab American Institute, wanting to know if they could help him in any way deal with the backlash against his community.

Unlike just a few years ago when some political candidates were rejecting his group's campaign contributions, calling them tainted money, Zogby was overwhelmed with the supportive response.

"I don't think I made one press call," said Zogby. "The calls have come."

Nearly 20 years of relentless efforts to build an influential and credible Arab American political organization were finally paying off.

Before Sept. 11, Zogby, a 55-year-old Democratic booster, was not a household name among many average Arab or Muslim Americans, but he was well-known on Capitol Hill.

After the terrorist attacks, however, he has become a kind of unofficial spokesman for his community. He and other members of his institute have met regularly, sometimes several days in a row, with the FBI, State Department officials, influential members of Congress and even President Bush.

Zogby has appeared on every network and spoken at public gatherings numerous times in the past three weeks alone.

"I think Jim Zogby has the toughest job in the world," said Ismael Ahmed, executive director of the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services in Dearborn, Mich. "In some ways he has helped to create a national electoral consensus -- he's helped put electoral life into Arab life. Having said that, trying to speak for 3 million people keeps him daily under attack."

Zogby, who is of Lebanese descent and brother of pollster John Zogby, attributes his growing influence to the pro-American position his organization took when it was formed in 1985. The group is interested in aiding U.S. policy toward the Middle East and influencing a wide-range of domestic policy issues, not being a mouthpiece for the Middle East.

"Our basic agenda is registering voters and improving the status of Arab Americans in the political parties, in the political process," Zogby says. "We never actually deviated from our agenda."

And a busy agenda at that. In 1984 Zogby was the deputy campaign manager for the Rev. Jesse Jackson's presidential run. After the campaign Zogby started his organization, saying, "We needed to mainstream Arab Americans so that we can fully participate in politics and be accepted."

In 1993 Zogby was asked by Vice President Al Gore to lead Builders for Peace, a private sector committee to promote U.S. business investment in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Since then, he has held numerous positions related to the Democratic National Committee.

Throughout all this, he has made more than $10,000 in political donations since 1991, mostly to Democrats, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-profit group that tracks campaign money.