Poll: Cuomo, Kennedy Deadlocked for N.Y. Senate Seat

December 9, 2008

The jockeying to replace Hillary Clinton in the U.S. Senate is looking more like a game of checkers compared to the allegedly pay-to-play tactics Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich is accused of using to fill President-elect Barack Obama’s seat.

According to the latest Marist Poll, Caroline Kennedy and New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo are tied at 25% among registered New York voters. An equally high number, 26%, are unsure of who the next New York senator should be. Gov. David Paterson will appoint a person to the seat after it’s vacated in January.

Among registered Democrats, Kennedy is the choice of 31% compared with 21% who prefer Cuomo. Among registered Republicans, Cuomo has the edge with 34% compared with 21% for Kennedy. Kennedy is more popular among New York City residents, while Cuomo is more popular in the suburbs. Upstate New York is divided.

Both Democrats enjoy positive perceptions among voters, with 64% rating Cuomo positively and 62% saying the same of Kennedy.

Former President John F. Kennedy’s daughter also has too forceful advocates: her uncle, Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, who is lobbying for her to get the job and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg who touted Kennedy Monday as “very competent” and as someone who “can do anything.”

Other contenders, such as Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown or Reps. Kirsten Gillibrand, Nydia Velazquez, Carolyn Maloney, and Steve Israel all registered in the single digits with voters.As for Clinton herself, the vast majority, 70%, said she will do either an excellent or good job as secretary of state.

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http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/12/09/poll-cuomo-kennedy-deadlocked-for-ny-senate-seat/

If Not One Kennedy, Perhaps Another, a 3rd Kennedy Says

December 8, 2008

Last week, Kerry Kennedy, a daughter of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, made waves when she appeared on MSNBC to say she thought her brother Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an environmental lawyer, would be an excellent choice to be the next United States senator from New York.

Mr. Kennedy, however, quickly took his name out of consideration. But after news that Gov. David A. Paterson and Caroline Kennedy — Ms. Kennedy’s cousin — had spoken about the Senate job, Ms. Kennedy was back on the airwaves today. Same channel, same (almost) message: My cousin Caroline, she said, would make an excellent next United States senator from New York.

“Absolutely,” Ms. Kennedy said, when asked if she was encouraging her cousin to seek the job. “I think Caroline would be just a wonderful public servant. She’s been doing this for many, many years. She’s a lawyer, she’s worked in New York and Washington, at the bar in both those places. She’s a best-selling author. But most of all, she’s a committed public servant.”

Ms. Kennedy also cited her cousin’s work raising money for the New York City public school system and running the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award, named for President John F. Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy’s father and a brother of the senator.

(Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, down in Washington for a conference on Monday, was also asked about Caroline Kennedy, according to The Associated Press. The mayor praised Ms. Kennedy’s work for the city and said that she “can do anything.” The mayor added: “Caroline Kennedy is a very experienced woman, she’s worked very hard for the city. I can just tell you she’s made an enormous difference in New York City.”)

Kerry Kennedy also confirmed reports that her uncle, Edward M. Kennedy, had lobbied Mr. Paterson on Caroline Kennedy’s behalf.

“Right, you know, I think that Teddy and Caroline are so incredibly close, and I can’t imagine a better team than the two of them in the Senate from Massachusetts and from New York,” Ms. Kennedy said.

Mr. Kennedy made no mention, however, of another prospective Senate pick: her ex-husband, State Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo.Shortly before Ms. Kennedy’s appearance, Senator Christopher J. Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat who is close to Mr. Kennedy, said Caroline Kennedy “would be a great choice” to replace Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is being nominated to be secretary of state.

Ms. Kennedy’s appearance came shortly after a news conference held by Mr. Paterson in Manhattan to discuss failures in New York’s efforts to transport relief supplies to Haiti after a recent hurricane.

Mr. Paterson said he would consider people for the job who had not held elective office, in addition to the large number of New York elected officials who are angling for the job, publicly and privately. (Caroline Kennedy, it should be noted, has never held elected office.)

“Elective office is not the only place that people have distinguished themselves and could serve the public,” the governor said, citing Mr. Bloomberg’s jump from business to politics in 2001, among others.But Mr. Paterson did not say anything about his private discussions with other officials about the appointment.

“First, it’s tell us who the candidates are, tell us what time you’re meeting with them, tell us whether or not you’ve talked to them before,” the governor said. “This is all gossip.”

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http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/08/if-not-one-kennedy-perhaps-another-a-3rd-kennedy-says/

Not the best choice for senator

A PUSH is on to make Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the former president, Hillary Clinton's replacement in the US Senate.
New York Governor David Paterson, who will appoint Clinton's successor, has said that Caroline called him recently to talk about the Senate seat, while cousins Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Kerry Kennedy are publicly promoting her for the job.
Those who know Kennedy say she is pleasant and unpretentious. Certainly she has displayed none of the off-putting behavior that has characterized some other members of the so-called third generation of Kennedys. A lawyer and author, she has done some valuable fund-raising work for the New York City schools.
But that hardly means she deserves to be eased into a US Senate seat.
Indeed, a consideration of some of the very characteristics that have made Ted Kennedy such a force in the Senate suggests his niece would be far less likely to succeed there.
Senator Kennedy is a big, magnetic personality, gregarious and funny, so solicitous of other senators that he's been known to show up at small birthday parties for GOP colleagues - and laugh good-naturedly about how they use him as a bugbear to raise money from conservatives. No surprise, then, that even some Republicans who disagree with him on most everything nevertheless value him as a friend.
Hillary Clinton displayed some of those same traits during her time in the Senate, using her interpersonal skills to impress colleagues on both sides of the aisle.
Caroline Kennedy, however, is not a people person. She's intensely protective of her privacy, so much so that, according to a Washington Post report, friends are reluctant even to be mentioned in articles about her for fear of being frozen out. To those who don't know her, she comes off as distant and reserved.
"She's very quiet and shy," says one family friend. "I think she is a good person and a smart person, but I just don't know if she would make a good senator."
While Ted Kennedy took naturally to political life, Caroline Kennedy hadn't, at least until her appearances for Barack Obama this year. An indifferent speaker, she has never been much involved in the public fray.
"Yes, she would bring important media attention to any issue she chose, but she is simply not someone who has ever played a significant role in any of the big policy debates," notes a second Kennedy acquaintance.
Meanwhile, we've already seen that political talent isn't necessarily a trait that has taken deep root among the third generation. Temperamental and rambunctious, Joe Kennedy II proved a poor fit for public life, essentially fouling out of the 1998 race for governor. Likable but lightly informed Max Kennedy stumbled before he was even off the starting block for a planned 2001 congressional run. And in Maryland, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend lost her 2002 gubernatorial bid.
Further, the idea that Kennedy is a logical choice because women want a high-profile champion is a curious one. Despite her fund-raising work, Caroline is someone famous not because of what she's done but because of who she is. If she's appointed to the Senate, her selection wouldn't be based on the merits but on her name.
New York's congressional delegation has a number of politically experienced women who have won House seats on their own. Picking one of them would send a message of an appointment based on accomplishments.
Another possibility is New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. (The fact that he and Kerry Kennedy underwent an acrimonious divorce in 2003 renders it all the more interesting that she is one of the Kennedys publicly promoting Caroline for senator.) Yes, Cuomo is the son of a famous father, but he's also an experienced political figure who has taken his lumps and losses in public life.
By all accounts, Caroline Kennedy is a fine person, revered within her tight circle of friends and family.
But a US Senate seat is one of the most important posts in the federal government. It is not a barony to be awarded as a political perk to the lightly experienced scion of a famous family.

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http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/12/10/not_the_best_choice_for_senator/

Caroline Kennedy's new political turn

WASHINGTON - For much of her adult life, Caroline Kennedy fulfilled only the most modest obligation of her political birthright, sitting on the board of the John F. Kennedy Library and presenting its Profile in Courage Award. And even that annual ritual must have reaffirmed her wariness of power: Most of the winners were politicians forced from public life for their noble but unpopular deeds.
Now, after years of stepping aside as a fleet of mostly male relatives rushed past in search of influence and glory, Caroline is beginning to exhibit her own Kennedyesque sense of ambition. She spent the last year playing a crucial role in Barack Obama's election campaign, as a prominent surrogate and top adviser, and has entered into provisional negotiations about filling the New York Senate seat soon to be vacated by Hillary Clinton, and once occupied by her uncle Robert.
"She enjoyed a private life with her children and husband, and she zealously guarded her privacy until this year," said Ted Sorensen, a Kennedy White House adviser and family confidant who lobbied Caroline to endorse Obama last winter. "She's discovered, so to speak, a new world, and she enjoyed the experience."
Her tentative approach of a high-profile legislative perch comes at a crossroads for the Kennedy dynasty: Her uncle Ted, the family's standard-bearer for four decades, is ailing, and the other Kennedys of her generation have proved unwilling or unable to carry the family's flag.
An aide to Senator Kennedy yesterday denied news reports that he had promoted Caroline to colleagues as a replacement for Clinton. One relative, however, openly championed her cause: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an environmental lawyer and activist who withdrew last week from contention, suggested Caroline Kennedy as an ideal substitute. Over the weekend, she reportedly contacted Governor David Paterson, who is responsible for filling the vacancy, to discuss the job without specifically declaring her interest in it. (Attempts to reach Caroline Kennedy for this report were unsuccessful.)
Until recently, even such an expression of curiosity in elective office would have been unimaginable for the 51-year-old, who long demonstrated more of her mother Jacqueline's elusiveness than her father's instinct toward politics. A trained attorney who does not practice law, Caroline Kennedy dabbled in legal scholarship and New York civic life while raising three children with her husband, Edwin Schlossberg.
Kennedy did not speak at a Democratic convention, whose dais has often served as a de-facto family reunion, until 2000, when she was ushered off stage to the theme from "Camelot." A year earlier, the death of her brother, John - who had a similarly uneasy relationship with public life until he launched and edited a political magazine - left Caroline Kennedy the lone survivor of the foursome that once inhabited the White House.
Since then, she has slowly drifted toward politics. In 2002, Kennedy took a $1-per-year job within the New York City Department of Education, raising money for a private charity that supported public schools. City officials were relying not only on her philanthropic and society ties - she is honorary chairwoman of American Ballet Theatre - but also her stature to rally support for an institution that often had trouble establishing credibility with wealthy donors.
"We discussed this when she took the role," said Joel I. Klein, the schools chancellor who hired Kennedy. "She knew she was going to be the public face of the public-private partnership."
Although she has been credited with helping to raise tens of millions of dollars for city schools - she quit her part-time job with the district after two years but remains co-chairwoman of the private charity - Kennedy surprised some in New York with her low profile, rarely giving interviews and appearing only fleetingly at public events.
In January, days before the critical Super Tuesday primaries, Kennedy for the first time endorsed a nonrelative for president, announcing her support for Obama in a New York Times op-ed that compared Obama to her father, who was assassinated in 1963. In it, Kennedy sought to affirm Obama's place in her family tradition even as a coterie of cousins made their own case for Clinton, his opponent.
(...)
"Caroline Kennedy has become one of my dearest friends, and is just a wonderful American, a wonderful person," Obama said Sunday on "Meet the Press," before declining to weigh in on her senatorial prospects for fear of getting "involved in New York politics."
Indeed, there are few places where a first-time candidate would find a rougher entry. Clinton's successor would have to defend the seat in two consecutive races - in a 2010 special election for the balance of Clinton's six-year term and then again to win a full term two years later - that could cost as much as $100 million. Already one popular Republican with a strong fund-raising record - moderate Long Island congressman Peter King - has declared his interest in challenging Paterson's appointee.
Sorensen, who ran for the same seat in 1970 after Robert Kennedy's assassination, said he has discussed with Caroline Kennedy the possibility of being in the Senate, although he would not divulge details of their conversation.
"My advice would be: 'Don't do what I did,' " said Sorensen, who entered the 1970 race as a national political celebrity with no experience as a candidate and lost in the Democratic primary. "I turned out to be a very poor fund-raiser, and you can't run in New York without any money."
One family loyalist who did successfully accede to the Senate suggested there was little Caroline Kennedy needed to learn about what a political career would entail.
"It's not new being a senator in that family," said Harris Wofford, who worked as an aide in the Kennedy White House before being appointed to represent Pennsylvania in the Senate a generation later. "It's a great tradition. She certainly knows what she would be getting into."

Go to:

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2008/12/10/caroline_kennedys_new_political_turn/?page=full

Kennedy: A 'season of hope'

Senator Edward M. Kennedy received an honorary degree from Harvard this afternoon, joining a select few so recognized outside of the university's commencement.

Past honorees include George Washington, Nelson Mandela and Winston Churchill.

Kennedy embraced his reputation as a liberal and spoke of the hope sparked by Barack Obama's election as president.

Here are his prepared remarks:

"Now I have something in common with George Washington –other than being born on February 22. It is not, as I had once hoped, being President. It is instead this rare privilege of receiving an honorary degree from Harvard at a special convocation. I am moved and deeply grateful to my university.

"It was exactly one hundred years ago this September that my father entered Harvard College as a freshman—to be followed in the next generation by Joe, Jack, Bobby and then by me. At home and here at Harvard, which became a second home, I learned to prize history, to play football, and to believe in public service.

"It was long ago, but I see it now as fresh as youth and yesterday. And I hope that in all the time since then I have lived up to the chance that Harvard gave me.

"And along the way, I have also learned lessons in the school of life, that we should take issues seriously, but never take ourselves too seriously, that political differences may make us opponents, but should never make us enemies, that battles rage and then quiet.

"Above all, I have seen throughout my life how we as a people can rise to a challenge, embrace change and renew our destiny.

"So there is no other time when I would rather receive this honor than this year— at this turning point in American history.

"Just one month ago, our citizens powerfully re-affirmed the promise of America. That promise has been central to my service, to the contributions of my brothers, and to the age-old dream of millions.

"Long after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, long after Brown v. Board of Education, long after a young Baptist minister stood on the steps of Lincoln's Memorial and called the nation to the dream of equality, the moment finally is here. The time is now, the long march of progress has arrived at one extraordinary day in American history.

"We elected a 44th president who, by virtue of his race, could have been legally owned by the first 16 Presidents of the United States. We judged him, as Martin Luther King said, not by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character and the capacity of his leadership. For America, this is not just a culmination, but a new beginning.

"Because in Barack Obama, we will now have a president who offers not just the audacity, but the possibility of hope for one America, strong and prosperous and free— “from sea to shining sea.”

"I am proud to have played a small part in this giant step forward in our history, and in the public life of this Commonwealth and this country for so many years. 50 years ago, I managed the successful re-election campaign for the junior Senator from Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy. Although I certainly did not anticipate it at the time, I myself have been deeply honored to hold that same seat for the past 46 years.

"During my service in the United States Senate, I have often been called a Liberal, and it usually was not meant as a compliment. But I remember what my brother said about liberalism shortly before he was elected president. He said: “If by a Liberal, they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind… Someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions… Someone who cares about the welfare of the people—their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, their civil liberties…Someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and the suspicion that grips us… If that is what they mean by a Liberal… Then I am proud to say I am a Liberal."

"As I said in Denver last summer, for me, this is a season of hope.

"Since I was a boy, I have known the joy of sailing the waters off Cape Cod. And for all my years in public life, I have believed that America must sail toward the shores of liberty and justice for all. There is no end to that journey, only the next great voyage. We know the future will outlast all of us, but I believe that all of us will live on in the future we make.

"In that spirit, I thank Harvard for this great honor—and I thank Massachusetts for the privilege of serving its people and its principles. I have lived a blessed time. Now, with you, I look forward to a new time of aspiration and high achievement for our nation and the world."