CNN

(CNN) - Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand - considered one of the top candidates to replace Hillary Clinton in the Senate - said Thursday she was "still in the running."

Gillibrand said he last time she spoke with Governor Paterson was at the New York reception the day before the inauguration. "I wished him luck and said I was available to talk if he needed more information," she said.

"I think I am still in the running. It's obviously an enormous honor to be even considered and to be reviewed for this position, and we'll all find out tomorrow, tomorrow or Saturday."

Gillibrand defended her record on the bailout vote, which she voted against although Wall Street was lobbying for it. “My concern was the bailout was really the wrong approach and might not work, and I thought for $700 billion we need to get it right," she said.

Responding to concerns about her record on guns, and her NRA endorsement from other gun control advocates in New York, Gillibrand proudly defended her pro-gun record: "I'm from upstate New York, I come from a hunting family...In upstate New York it's not only part of our culture, but our heritage...I just believe in the second amendment."