[Islam-Online- Europe]

(AFP) - American Muslim community leaders were discussing how to maximize their impact at the ballot box this November as the race for the White House moved into full swing over the Labor day weekend.

Addressing a gathering of some 35,000 Muslims in a Chicago suburb, Muslim leaders called for a strong turnout on November 7, urging the older generation especially to break out of their self-imposed purdah.

"We must vote. We must vote in high percentages, and we must vote for a specific agenda," said Professor Agha Saeed, professor of political science at California State University at Hayward.

The different interest groups need to pull together to advance a common agenda and encourage about 80 percent of the six million-strong US community to vote - preferably as a bloc, Saeed said.

"Unity of purpose, division of labor," said Saeed, summing up the philosophy.

"Some of us are still living in islands of insecurity ... shying away from the mainstream," said Mir Ali, professor of public policy at American University in Washington DC. Muslims must learn to flex their political muscle at the ballot box if they want to be heard, Ali warned. "Numbers by themselves do not constitute a weight - a value," he said.

Muslim voter participation is a hot issue in this US election year, with mosques and community centers spreading the word among the grass roots.

"Vote, vote, vote, is the message in my mosque," acknowledged Sanna Padela, a Pakistani-born 21-year-old from Rochester, New York.

The irony is that in the year the Muslim community mobilizes for its strongest showing yet at the polls, the Democratic Party (the one most favored by Muslims) is fielding an Orthodox Jew as its vice presidential nominee.

Academics and figureheads of the Muslim community finessed the importance of Senator Joe Lieberman's faith and the dilemma it represents for some in their ranks at last weekend's Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) conference in Rosemont.

Lieberman's religion was secondary, said Saeed.

Muslims should look at his conduct and his accessibility - "evaluate his record," he said. Others put an even more positive spin on it.

"This is a good omen for Muslims," said Professor Ali, adding it augured well for Muslim future chances in the White House, with Islam the fastest-growing religion in the United States, he noted.

"I haven't voted in the past, but I'm going to make it a point to vote for (Republican presidential nominee George W.) Bush in November ... because of Lieberman," said Sanna Padela, a student doctor who has worked in Lebanese refugee camps.

The ISNA conference leaders carefully avoided expressing partisanship.

And some 46 percent of American Muslims backed the Democrats against 16 percent for the Republicans in a recent Zogby poll.

The emphasis, though, was on carving out a public role, raising the Muslim profile in the public sphere and becoming more sophisticated political operators.

And the religious group's hopes and ambitions lie increasingly with the younger generation, speakers acknowledged.

"We must educate our children to take public speaking classes so our children can establish a meaningful presence in the public domain," said Saeed.

"The ones born here have integrated very well. Sometimes they vote against the wishes of their parents ... at the end everybody is going to benefit," said Bashir Moghur, a Pakistani who immigrated here 25 years ago.

Both Vice President Al Gore and Republican candidate George W. Bush declined to attend the conference, which ran Friday, September 1 through Monday, September 4, because of campaign obligations.

However, Hadassah Lieberman and Tipper Gore attended a closed-door meeting with a handful of leaders from the ISNA umbrella organization of more than 100 Muslim groups and some Chicago community leaders late Sunday