Labor takes 'swing vote bus' to Tel Aviv

Yacimovich: 3-4 seats are being wasted; campaign recruits support from rock stars and novelists.

By LAHAV HARKOV
Labor's Yacimovich at Dizengoff Center campaign event 370 (photo credit: Lahav Harkov)
Labor's Yacimovich at Dizengoff Center campaign event 370
(photo credit: Lahav Harkov)
Labor continued its efforts to reach undecided voters on Monday, with party leader Shelly Yacimovich taking the “swing vote bus” to Tel Aviv.
Yacimovich, Labor MK Isaac Herzog, and venture capitalist and Labor candidate Erel Margalit rode the bus through Ramat Hahayal, a neighborhood with many high-tech offices, while workers were on their lunch break, to try to convince them to vote Labor.
Labor has had two “swing vote buses” visit shopping centers and business areas around the country for the past two weeks, and plans to rent six more buses to drive voters to polling places on Tuesday.
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Click for full JPost coverage
Speaking to campaign volunteers Monday night, Yacimovich said three to four Knesset seats are being wasted by people who are not voting or voting for parties too small to pass the election threshold.
According to the party’s campaign, Labor activists visited 90,000 homes in recent weeks, and hope to double the amount by Tuesday. In addition, activists called tens of thousands of undecided voters.
In a press conference Monday morning, party candidates attacked Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s economic plans.
“Labor has a comprehensive plan, written in cooperation with dozens of economists for building tens of thousands of homes on free land, because the land is public, and the public deserves it,” Herzog said. “Affordable housing, at NIS 600,000 for a young family is possible.”
Labor candidate Itzik Shmuly, a leader of the 2011 tent protests, said that “at the height of the protests, we spoke about social justice as an inclusive concept for people who go to the army, the workforce, pay taxes but feel their needs don’t matter.”
“This election is a major opportunity. I am sure many Israelis woke up this morning and asked themselves how they will pay their rent. We ask them to vote by this question.
Which party will really bring solutions to the housing crisis and deal with socioeconomic problems?” Shmuly asked.
Meanwhile, Labor continued to recruit celebrity supporters, like rock star Aviv Geffen and popular novelist Eshkol Nevo.
Unlike his “The Voice” costar Sarit Hadad, who sang “You’re the Bomb” to Netanyahu, Geffen tweeted that “after much deliberation, I am going with Shelly Yacimovich.
Somehow, I feel like she is the closest to the light switch.” Yuval Banai, another “The Voice” mentor, announced he will be voting Labor last week.
Nevo wrote that “long before social justice brought thousands to town squares, Yacimovich demanded it on every stage, with persistence that became her trademark...
This is a woman with a moral spine and a proven ability to turn ideology into achievements.”