Has Caroline Kennedy’s push to fill Senator Hillary Clinton’s remaining Senate seat time sparked a backlash so that what’s likely to happen is that a big name “placeholder” will be asked to warm the seat for only two years instead?
The AP is reporting that this could be case. And, indeed, it would seem the logical outcome if you’ve followed the stories about how New York Governor David Paterson is increasingly irked by media speculation that Kennedy is the “front-runner” — when it is he alone who can decide who fills the spot.
In fact, Americans seemingly just got a little taste of the reality of athegovernor’s power in the State of Illinois, where a certain Gov. known for his head of hair, four-letter words and alleged propensity to sell a Senate seat basically politically mooned President Elect Barack Obama and the Democratic Party leadership to name someone to fill Obama’s Senate seat.. Or was a seemingly political middle finger actually a bit more complicated than it appeared at first glance?
The AP reports that the Kennedy clan might think about holding off putting the crown on JFK’s daughter’s head for a bit – because she may find she’s not the one named to fill out Clinton’s spot. In fact, another Clinton name is coming up, but he insists he’s not interested:
Sen. Bill Clinton? Sen. Mario M. Cuomo? Don’t rule it out. Don’t rule it out.
The former president and the former New York governor are among several boldface names being touted as possible “caretakers” for New York’s Senate seat — people who would serve until the 2010 election but wouldn’t be interested in running to keep the job. As the process of picking Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s replacement gets messier, the option may become increasingly attractive to Gov. David Paterson, who has sole authority to name a successor.
A spokesman for Bill Clinton said Wednesday that the former chief executive isn’t interested in the job. Cuomo declined through a spokesman to discuss the seat.
A big name could have an immediate impact for New York in the Senate and let the large field of hopefuls duke it out in 2010, according to three Democratic Party advisors in New York and Washington who are close to the discussion with Paterson’s inner circle.
Paterson has made it clear that he’s getting annoyed by the jockeying by supporters of high-powered hopefuls including Caroline Kennedy and state Atty. Gen. Andrew Cuomo, son of the former governor.
The bottom line: this would be like winding up the clock a bit more on a political time bomb, since it would only postpone what is shaping up as a messy and divisive battle within New York’s Democratic Party, which could have national implications for the Demmies in the long term as well. Yes…Kennedy would be told she could run for it later.
But if that happened it would mean that Democrats would be ready on Day One — the day the caretaker name is announced — to begin a feverish battle to get the 2010 nomination. It would be one long campaign season in New York State.
A solution — or political procrastination?
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.