Former Obama aide and fundraiser to head AIPAC

Lee "Rosy" Rosenberg, a jazz recording industry veteran capitalist who accompanied U.S. President Barack Obama on his campaign trip to Israel two years ago, takes over on Sunday as the new president of American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Rosenberg also served on the president's national campaign finance committee. The new AIPAC president hails from Chicago, the home state of President Obama, and also is on first-name terms with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod, President Obama's senior advisor. Steve Rosen, a former 23-year, high-ranking AIPAC official, told the Chicago Tribune, "I don't think AIPAC has made any secret of the reality that his friendship with the president played a role in Rosy's rise. He's a guy who works very hard at fundraising [and] in the political arena. It was not as if he was plucked out of nowhere. He paid his dues. But I'm sure nobody was blind to the fact that he's from Chicago." AIPAC claims more than 100,000 members and is considered the most powerful Jewish lobby in Washington.