Two weeks from today, voters in Minnesota’s fifth congressional district will make electoral history when they send Democratic State Senator Keith Ellison to Washington as their next U.S. representative.

Ellison, ahead comfortably in the polls, stands to become Minnesota’s first non-Caucasian in Congress (Ellison is black) and, more consequentially given current events, Congress’s first Muslim (he converted from Roman Catholicism at 19).

Though Ellison prays five times a day and fasts during Ramadan, he has played down his religion in the campaign; Republican opponent Alan Fine, on the other hand, has done everything in his power to keep it an issue, albeit indirectly.

That Ellison doesn’t want his Muslim identity to define him (and that Fine does) shouldn’t surprise anyone. In the wake of 9/11, many Americans — even in Minnesota’s progressive fifth district — have become wary of Islam and its adherents, if not outright distrustful.

Fine presumably felt that because he could not beat a Democrat on the issues in a Democratic year in a Democratic District — a Republican hasn’t held the seat since 1963 — his best hope was to capitalize on this suspicion, particularly among the district’s sizeable and influential Jewish community.

Politically, it was a no-brainer.

And, to be fair, there were valid questions about Ellison.

Did he stand by articles he had written in law school defending Nation of Islam leader and avowed anti-Semite Louis Farakhan?

Did he share the extreme views of other American Muslim leaders who had donated to his campaign?

And, most importantly for many Jewish voters, how did he feel toward the State of Israel?

Ellison has sought to allay these and other concerns.

Regarding Farakhan, he admitted in a letter to a local Jewish group that he had “wrongly dismissed concerns that [Farakhan’s remarks] were anti-Semitic. They were and are anti-Semitic and I should have come to that conclusion earlier than I did.”

He has been less forthright about his association with some unsavory American Muslim leaders, such as Council on American-Islamic Relations Director (CAIR) and Hamas supporter Nihad Awad, though the National Jewish Democratic Council has appropriately cited the hypocrisy of those who have made it an issue:

“They attack Keith for being an acquaintance of Awad’s, yet they said nothing when President Bush invited Awad and other Muslim leaders to a press event immediately after the September 11 attacks and referred to members of the group as ‘good folks standing with me.’”

Whether or not Ellison is friendly with Awad, it is clear that he shares neither the man’s support for Hamas nor his loathing for the Jewish State.

While making clear on his website that he desires a lasting peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians, he writes:

“Right now Hamas represents the greatest obstacle to [a two-state solution], and until Hamas denounces terrorism, recognizes the absolute right of Israel to exist peacefully and honors past agreements, it cannot be considered legitimate partners in this process …

“Terrorism is the greatest impediment to peace. At this point the Palestinian Authority (PA) has yet to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza and the West Bank. The United States cannot support any government that condones or embraces terrorism.”

Ellison hasn’t just passively fielded questions from a concerned Jewish constituency; he has proactively engaged it, so much so that he has been criticized by many in his own community of faith. In November, after he is elected, he plans to visit Israel with a local Jewish delegation. And one week ago, he courageously debated his Jewish opponent in a local synagogue (I find it difficult to imagine Fine agreeing to debate Ellison in a mosque).

End of suspicion, right?

Wrong.

Fine and his minions (right-wing bloggers, mostly) have continued their Jihad on Ellison, either because it’s working to some degree or because they’re desperate. It calls into question whether they’re merely raising legitimate questions (even though they’ve been answered) or using them as a cover to tap into deeper attitudes. In other words, at what point does rational suspicion become irrational phobia (i.e. Islamophobia)?

Whatever the answer, it’s clear that most Minnesota Jews aren’t buying Fine’s shtick. Ellison has been endorsed by the local Jewish newspaper as well as other notable Jewish organizations and individuals. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that when Fine tried to pin Ellison to Nation of Islam and CAIR at the synagogue debate, he “was booed and hissed at.”

It’s true that some in the Jewish community remain ambivalent about Ellison, fearing that he may be giving them lip service now and will become American Jews’ worst nightmare when he gets to Washington.

And yes, that could happen. But if it does, it is doubtful that Ellison will be re-elected in 2008. A far more likely scenario is that Ellison will continue to extend his hand to his Jewish constituents in friendship, serving as a model for future Muslim-Americans who wish to win elections.

In an age when too many Muslim-Americans have responded to acts of terrorism committed in the name of their religion by making excuses for them, rather than condemning them outright, a leader like Ellison should be embraced, not shunned.

That’s not to say that Jews (and other non-Muslims) should vote for Ellison because of his religion — to make a social statement, as it were. But they sure as hell shouldn’t vote against him because of it. They should judge him on his record, his platform and his character.

If they succumb to the Muslim-baiting, however, it will not be the first time in recent memory that voters of one religious bloc have rejected a candidate because he was from another.

In the 2000 presidential election, over 90 percent of Muslim-Americans voters refused to support Al Gore after he chose Joe Lieberman as his running mate because — as one of my more candid Muslim friends put it — “many in the community felt that the Jews already had too much power in America.”

Most of them voted for the other guy — you know, the one named Bush.

Oops.

Ben Birnbaum is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences. He can be reached at bhb9@cornell.edu. Infomaniacs Anonymous appears Tuesdays.