Caroline Kennedy Drops Bid to Replace Hillary Clinton in Senate; Paterson Should Select a Woman

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

So much for Caroline Kennedy. The New York Times reports she's withdrawn her bid to replace now-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the U.S. Senate.

Maybe next time, before she tries to jump into politics, she'll make public her views on important issues of the day, develop the political savvy to campaign in upstate New York as well as downstate and find a really good speech coach.

Let's hope Gov. Paterson reaches out to one of the senior female members of the U.S. House of Representatives to replace Clinton. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid chickened out of a showdown with Sen. Roland Burris (D-Il.) despite Burris' tainted nomination, put forward by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, due largely to Burris' playing of the race card. None of the following women—Nita Lowey, Louise Slaughter, Carolyn Maloney, Nydia Velazquez—has had the lack of grace to play the gender (or in Velasquez' case, the race) card but Paterson should recognize the importance of gender himself. Yes, Cuomo's kid (Andrew) is running ahead in polls. But many experienced New York campaigners (named above) could be named to and easily hold that seat when it comes up for reelection.

• Read more by Bonnie Erbe.
• Read more from the Thomas Jefferson Street blog.
• Read more about Caroline Kennedy.