PIX News in New York is reporting that Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand, who represents upstate New York, will be chosen by Governor David Paterson to replace Hillary Clinton as New York’s junior senator. The announcement is to be made at noon Friday in Albany.
Speculation is that the governor’s thinking is that it benefits to have a senator from upstate, and that Hillary Clinton, herself, supports Kirsten Gillibrand as her successor. Carolyn Maloney, the New York City congresswoman who was also up for the job, will also be in Albany Friday. I wonder if Kirsten Gillibrand would have been chosen had Caroline Kennedy not pulled out. Or was it that Kirsten Gillibrand had already chosen and Kennedy, who has been vague about her reasons for withdrawing, did so to save face?
Kirsten Gillibrand - Senator from New York?
Word is Kirsten Gillibrand will be chosen by Governor Patterson to replace Hillary Clinton as New York’s junior Senator.
Patterson has really been dragging out this process, and the Caroline Kennedy fiasco has made nobody look good. Phillip Anderson at the Albany Project sums it up:
I’d add the Governor. This mess didn’t need to drag on anywhere near this long. Also, it was pretty obvious that in addition to not being “ready for prime time”, Kennedy never really seemed to even want it all that much. Paterson should have politely taken a pass. He didn’t and it has now blown up in his face. (Knickerbocker SKD should have as well, but at least they were billing.)
Kirsten Gillibrand is better, I guess. But she’s been wrong on FISA. Wrong on Free Choice. Wrong on immigration. Wrong on gay marriage. But, she does hail from one of the most conservative congressional districts in New York, and word is she’s more progressive than she lets on. And she’s a woman (which I guess is fitting) and she’s a great fundraiser. Here’s hoping she’ll represent the entire state of New York - which means being a significantly more liberal Senator than she was a Representative.
Either way, tomorrow at noon, us New Yorkers will have a new Senator.
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