Kirsten Gillibrand to be Appointed to Hillary's Senate Seat

3 years ago

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Several news outlets are reporting that NY Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand will be New York Governor Dav

id Paterson's choice to replace Hillary Clinton in the US Senate. From PIX News:

PIX NEWS is being told that Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand is the reported choice of Governor David Paterson to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Hillary Clinton. Two Congressional sources say members of the New York delegation have been invited to join Governor Paterson for the announcement in Albany at noon tomorrow.

While most media outlets focused attention on supposed frontrunners like Caroline Kennedy and Andrew Cuomo, based on my reporting, Gillibrand's was the only name that came up all throughout the process. From a week ago:

Everyone is being very cagey about this, even off the record, so while nobody will name a front-runner, there is only one name that I've heard over and over again: Kirsten Gillibrand. The Congresswoman from the 20th District is a Hillary Clinton protege, who won re-election in a landslide in 2008.

I like Gillibrand's chances, and picking a Hillary loyalist would be good politics. On the other hand, Gillibrand is a Blue Dog, more conservative on many issues. Caroline Kennedy would be a reliably liberal pick. With all of the aisle-reaching these days, it would be nice to shore up the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party.

Gillibrand is a smart pick for Paterson. As a Clinton protege´, she should have little trouble retaining the seat, and as an up-and-comer in congress, she could hold the seat for a long time.

Hopefully, Caroline Kennedy proves her bid to be no mere whim, and will use this experience as an awakening of her call to public service in the arena of national politics. The Kennedys have a great tradition of advancing strong, liberal, essentially American policies, and she would add greatly to that.

But the most important lesson to take away from this story is that I was right. Also, that I rule.

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Filed Under: Hillary Clinton, Democrats, Barack Obama, Obama Administration

Tagged: caroline kennedy, CarolineKennedy, david paterson, DavidPaterson, kirsten gillibrand, KirstenGillibrand

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