Results tagged “senateseat”

Before Ted Kennedy made his way down to Washington and onto his burial at Arlington National Ceremony, he was bid adieu Friday night by New York's most famous living Kennedy, his niece Caroline. After she and her cousin Robert greeted some of the thousands of visitors at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Library, Caroline spoke before the crowd in a tribute to her Uncle Teddy. She described her moment of reflection the night he died saying, "I looked up and there was this one star hanging low in the sky that was just bigger than all the rest and brighter than all the rest. I know it was Jupiter but it was acting a lot like Teddy." Still unable to shake her botched attempt to fill the Senate seat of Hillary Clinton at the beginning of this year, the News introduced her speech by immediately mentioning that her last time in front of the cameras as "a tentative, tongue-tied U.S. Senate hopeful." Yesterday Caroline played a less vocal but still visible trole during the funeral, serving as one of her uncle's pallbearers at his funeral.

Today, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand continued to bolster her support for 2010, announcing endorsements from Rep. Gregory Meeks as well as the Reverend Al Sharpton. Sharpton's statement begins, "In less than five months, Senator Gillibrand has demonstrated an ability to bring people together, listen to their challenges, and forge solutions to the problems they face. I was impressed that the day after being selected to replace Hillary Clinton in the Senate, she came down to the House of Justice in Harlem to hear the real concerns of the voiceless." PolitickerNY reports, "The endorsements by Sharpton and Meeks are useful to Gillibrand, who has been trying to make inroads with a black community wary of her past conservative position on gun control," and an adviser said that Gillibrand worked for their support, "One of the first people she met with was Sharpton, she's talked to him regularly and reached out to him." So far, Reps. Steve Israel and Carolyn McCarthy have said they will not run against Gilibrand; Rep. Caroline Maloney is reportedly considering a primary challenge.

While no Democrats have jumped on the declining poll numbers of Governor Paterson to suggest their own potential run for governor, they seem to be chomping at the bit to exploit the potential vulnerability of new Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Yesterday Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer said he's considering a run, telling the Times, “Voters have an expectation for a Senate seat held by Kennedy, Moynihan, that there will be a discussion of issues through the electoral process.” Stringer added that he would not run in the primaries if another potential candidate does—Long Island Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney. Despite Gillibrand's softening of many of her pro-gun stances while in the House, Maloney continues to sound unimpressed by her. Maloney said, “She’s turned her opinion on just about everything, but people are seeing through that. Who is she? What does she stand for? That’s going to be her biggest problem, that she flips on everything.”

A Quinnipiac poll puts the blame on Caroline Kennedy for mishandling the Senate bid: The Staten Island Advance reveals, "49% of those polled felt she and her aides were to blame," compared to 15% who thought Governor Paterson messed it up and 12% who believe both Kennedy and Paterson screwed up. NY Magazine's cover story is about Kennedy follies: "The appointment was destined to be a mess—how could it not be? The cast of characters involved in choosing a new junior senator for New York included a lapsed priest, three of the country’s most bare-knuckled political dynasties, and an imperious mayor." (NY Mag writer Chris Smith adds that Kennedy ran up against the Times' city staff which had "grown a pair of balls" after covering Mayor Bloomberg's term limits challenge.) Now Paterson's staff is accused of leaking information about skeletons in Kennedy's closet, which apparently ended her Senate seat hunt; Paterson condemned the leaks, adding, "I don't think there's any public interest that's served by finding out why somebody chose to take a different course in their lives."

Caroline Kennedy's sudden, apparently last-minute decision to abandon her Senate bid is the talk of the Empire State, you know? After varying reports about why she was ditching the chance to be junior Senator—her uncle's failing health, learning that Governor David Paterson wasn't going to choose her— plus one on saying she dropping out, Kennedy did nothing to clear things by only saying in a statement, "I informed Governor Paterson today that for personal reasons I am withdrawing my name from consideration for the United States Senate."

While the weekend brought stories of Governor Paterson perhaps changing his mind about who will replace Hillary Clinton as the junior Senator from New York—a Daily News source said, "He was leaning toward one person, but he has shifted to another"—the Post suggests the decision is a done deal... and that Caroline Kennedy will be the victor.

New York is still in waiting game-mode: Governor Paterson, on WFAN's "Boomer and Carton Show," said that he was thinking about announcing a Senate pick this weekend, "but I just kind of decided I didn't want to trample on Senator Clinton's ability to come back and say farewell to her constituents nor ... the inauguration." Politico's Ben Smith feels Paterson is hinting that he may choose someone a little more unexpected, since he said, "There are some great candidates who have distinguished themselves but aren't so well known." Paterson also added, "My job is not to pick the person who is popular today. It's the person who is going to be popular in 2010, when they run for re-election." Wait, Paterson can see into the future?

While a new poll came out once again finding that New Yorkers would rather see Andrew Cuomo as their new senator instead of Caroline Kennedy, we're still waiting for the poll that confirms a more obvious fact: that New Yorkers would just rather this process be over already. Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco has announced legislation requiring US Senate vacancies be filled by special election, not gubernatorial appointments. Governor Paterson says that such a vote would take too long. As for when he might make up his mind, Paterson told reporters, "We're about to move into the period of the inauguration, and I don't want to distract from that. Otherwise, I would think that right after the inauguration." Paterson said that he has now interviewed 15 candidates for the position (though no word on if he has come up with a trusty numbering system). Cuomo was not eager to talk about it, but the News revealed that he was one of that group interviewed at Paterson's Manhattan office.

Yesterday afternoon,Caroline Kennedy met with Governor David Paterson to discuss the Senate seat being vacated by Hillary Clinton. The Daily News reports, "Until Saturday, Kennedy had only spoken by phone to Paterson," but no details about their conversation were released. A Paterson spokeswoman said, "The details of those discussions will remain private."

Governor Paterson tried his best to tamp down speculation that political dynasty scion Caroline Kennedy is a sure thing to take Hillary Clinton's Senate seat by telling WOR 71 radio that "she has pluses and minuses." Paterson said, "Caroline Kennedy obviously does have a tremendous relationship with the president, and that certainly is a plus. She does not have much legislative experience, which is a minus."

In what sounds a little like a case of biting the hand that feeds you, one of the Kennedys is saying that maybe Caroline doesn't need so much support from Mayor Bloomberg. A member of the Camelot clan told PolitickerNY, "We love the kind words the mayor has said about her but this is Governor Paterson's decision, and we were concerned that the mayor's vocal support would crowd the governor and damage the effort." The article then makes a convincing case for how Bloomberg's backing of Caroline has been a wise strategic move to both establish himself as the alpha male in New York politics while simultaneously keeping big name Democrats (like Obama) out of the way of his reelection bid. When Bloomberg's Deputy Mayor and Caroline ally Kevin Sheekey last came to bat for Kennedy in the press, he made it clear what made her stand out as a potential choice, "New York needs someone who supported the New President."

Does anyone remember the early days of the senate replacement talk, when it seemed like Governor Paterson's toughest dilemma in filling the vacancy left by Hillary Clinton was going to be which of his constituencies he could butter up the most as he used the pick to try to win voters for his reelection? Talk was that he might be giving the call to a household name like Nydia Velazquez or Brian Higgins. Well, somewhere along the way things got a little more complicated.

Roland Burris, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's Senate appointee, may have implied he's the Lord's Senate Appointee but that doesn't mean you can enter the Senate's chambers! Burris held a press conference, explaining that the Senate's Secretary turned him away for not having the proper credentials. The Senate secretary's argument was that Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White hadn't approved Burris's appointment and, according to CNN, "Rule 2 of the Standing Rules of the Senate states that the secretary of state must sign the certificate of election along with the governor." Burris's lawyer said, "We were not allowed to be placed in the record books. We were not allowed to proceed to the floor for purposes of taking oath, all of which we think was improperly done and it is against the law of this land." This drama will undoubtedly continue, so in the meantime, watch how Stephen Colbert Alan Colmes examine the taint around Burris.

A new poll released is showing that—surprise, surprise—New Yorkers have soured on Caroline Kennedy since she began making her presence felt. Almost half say that their opinion of her has worsened over the last month. And while Caroline once had twenty percent more support to replace Hillary Clinton than the next most likely choice Andrew Cuomo, now that figure has flipped and Cuomo is favored by twenty percent more of state Democrats than the one-time first daughter. The New Yorker suggests that all of her "you knows" might be a desperate plea to connect with people and that maybe what she needs to regroup is a listening tour.

Another day of Caroline Kennedy/Senate talk! The NY Times has a revelation: Most other city employees—even ones with "nominal" salaries like Mayor Bloomberg and former Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff— must provide financial disclosures, yet Kennedy never did when she worked for the Department of Education.

No one is exactly racing to put the stamp on Caroline Kennedy as our next senator following her recent series of interviews with local media. Veteran New York politics journalist Andrew Kirtzman says thinks her roll-out has been disastrous, telling Politicker NY, "The interviews were catastrophic to her cause. They totally undermined one's faith in her. It's becoming clear why the roll-out has been so tentative and low-key: Her communications skills could take months to improve, and she doesn't have that kind of time." Ouch.

President-elect Obama, during a press conference to announce former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle as the head of Health and Human Services, discussed Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's alleged corruption. Obama emphasized that his staff has not been involved with deal-making for the Senate seat Obama is vacating, "That would be a violation of everything that this campaign has been about."