(CNN) – Caroline Kennedy, daughter of President John F. Kennedy who was widely considered the frontrunner for an appointment to replace Hillary Clinton as U.S. senator from New York, has removed herself from consideration for that post, according to three Democratic sources.
(CNN) - New York Gov. David Paterson said Friday he is prepared to announce who will replace Hillary Clinton in the Senate immediately after the presidential inauguration.
In an interview on New York radio station WFAN, Paterson said he had planned on making the announcement this weekend, but later decided the timing would be better next week.
"We now know that Sen. Clinton is going to be the secretary of state. She sailed through her committee hearing," Paterson said "I would probably have done it this weekend, but I decided I didn't want to trample on Sen. Clinton's ability to come back and say farewell to her constituents, or the inauguration."
"Right after the inauguration, I expect to be getting to that," he added.
Paterson, who alone has the power to appoint someone to replace Clinton for two years, also dismissed recent polls showing more New Yorkers want state Attorney Gen. Andrew Cuomo for the post rather than Caroline Kenedy.
"The polls go up and down, it was somebody else a few weeks ago," he said. "I think that's more name recognition. There are some great candidates who have distinguished themselves who are not as well known."
Two recent polls both showed Kennedy has lost significant support among New Yorkers since she first expressed interest in the job.
But ultimately, Paterson said, his job is not to pick the candidate who’s most popular at the moment.
"It's the person who is going to be popular in 2010, when they run for re-election," the New York governor said.
(CNN) - A new survey of New York voters is the second poll in two days to find Andrew Cuomo pulling away from Caroline Kennedy.
Four in 10 registered New York voters in a Marist poll released Thursday say they would would like to see Cuomo, currently the state’s attorney general, tapped as Hillary Clinton’s Senate replacement. Twenty-five percent of those polled think New York Gov. David Paterson should pick Kennedy for the spot.
A month ago, both Kennedy and Cuomo drew the support of one in four New Yorkers.
Cuomo now holds a clear advantage over Kennedy among Democrats (39 to 31 percent), Republicans (40 to 16 percent), and voters not registered with a political party (42 to 24 percent), and across most regions of the state. Only in New York City is the daughter of former President John Kennedy come close to Cuomo’s showing: she is the favorite of 31 percent of the city’s voters, compared to the 36 percent who favor Cuomo.
(CNN) - A majority of New Yorkers hope Gov. David Paterson nominates someone besides Caroline Kennedy to fill the Senate seat soon to be vacated by Hillary Clinton, a new poll suggests.
According to a new survey from Quinnipiac University, 31 percent of New York voters prefer State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo get the job while only 24 percent want Kennedy to get it.
In a poll conducted by Quinnipiac in late December, a third of voters favored Kennedy while 29 percent wanted Cuomo.
Meanwhile, Reps. Carolyn Maloney, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Steve Israel all draw single digit support.
Of course, just one man’s opinion matters in this race - and he's not talking.
(CNN) – New York Gov. David Paterson says Caroline Kennedy's lack of elected office experience "does not help her" in her drive to fill the senate seat being vacated by Hillary Clinton.
Paterson, as New York's governor, has the sole authority to name a replacement to fill Hillary Clinton’s seat after she resigns, as expected, to serve as President-elect Obama’s secretary of state.
In an interview with the Buffalo News Thursday morning, Paterson said elective experience is one factor, but not the only one, in his decision making process. Kennedy's "lack of elected experience does not help her,” he said, “but the point is, it's the combination of experiences I'll look at in terms of all the candidates, and also how balanced the ticket would look."
Kennedy, daughter of the late president John F. Kennedy and niece of Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy, is one of at least a half a dozen candidates who have publicly expressed interest in succeeding Clinton. But because of her family name, Kennedy's received the most media attention - and because she's never served or even run for public office, she's received the most scrutiny.
(CNN) – Caroline Kennedy appears to have cleared a big hurdle in her quest to replace outgoing New York Sen. Hillary Clinton.
New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a powerful Democrat who has questioned whether Kennedy is the best choice to fill the likely vacant seat, said Wednesday he will support Kennedy should she ultimately be appointed to the post.
"I have determined there's a good possibility she will be the appointee of the governor," Silver told the New York Post. "If she is the appointee of the governor, I will certainly be supportive of her. I will work for her and will work strenuously for her election."
Silver's comments differ markedly from his statements last week, when he suggested Kennedy is too closely allied with Michael Bloomberg, the Republican-turned-Independent New York City Mayor.
"If I were the governor, I would look and question whether this is the appointment I would want to make: whether her first obligation might be to the mayor of the City of New York, rather than to the governor who would be appointing her," Silver told an Albany radio station then.
WASHINGTON (CNN) – Caroline Kennedy’s $2,300 donation to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign was not returned because of her decision to endorse Barack Obama in the Democratic primary, a Clinton aide told CNN — it was sent back because the New York senator’s loss meant she would not be able to keep funds that had been contributed for her general election campaign.
The return was first reported Monday by the New York Post’s Page Six. Information available on Opensecrets.org confirms that a donation to Clinton from Kennedy was returned in August of this year, but does not provide any reason that the $2,300 was returned. Information available from the Web site of the Federal Election Commission shows that Kennedy donated the legal maximum of $4,600 to Clinton in June 2007 in two separate donations of $2,300 each.
Individual donors are limited to $2,300 to support a candidate’s primary run, and $2,300 to support a general election run for the White House.
A spokesman and adviser to Sen. Clinton informed CNN that Kennedy was one of approximately 8,000 donors who all had their contributions for Clinton’s general election bid returned on the same day four months ago.
Women are more likely than men to see Caroline Kennedy as qualified to be New York's next senator, according to a new CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released Monday. (Getty Images/File)
(CNN) - A new national poll suggests that men and women don't see eye to eye on the question of whether Caroline Kennedy is qualified to serve as a U.S. senator.
Just over half of all Americans questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Monday say that Kennedy is qualified to be a senator: 52 percent say she is, and 42 percent disagree.
Watch: 'Maybe that day is now,' Kennedy says of seeking political office
But the poll also indicates there's a gender gap, with 57 percent of women saying Kennedy is qualified. That number drops to 47 percent among men, with 46 percent of male respondents saying Kennedy is not qualified.
"Men may think of qualifications for public office in terms of work experience, while women may be looking at a candidate's life experience," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "Caroline Kennedy has a personal history that may be compelling to many women, but her resume is not very long, and that may be a mark against her to some men."
Watch a round up of the latest political news.
WATCH: From Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's troubles to Caroline Kennedy's Senate aspirations, CNN's Paul Steinhauser has a round up of the latest political news.
(CNN) - In a Friday interview, Caroline Kennedy downplayed a comparison Rep. Gary Ackerman made last weekend between the prospective senator and another famous New Yorker, Jennifer Lopez.
“I admire the journey that J-Lo has traveled,” Kennedy told NY1. “I’ve been to a school in the Bronx pretty near the house that she grew up in, and so I actually have a lot of admiration for her, and she looks pretty good, but in terms of public policy and how we’ve spent our adult lives, I don’t think there’s really that much that we have in common.”
Kennedy pointed to her ties to President-elect Barack Obama as one of the strengths she would bring to the job. “And I think that I have relationships in Washington that I would like to put to work to benefit the people of New York,” she said. “You know I ran, helped run the vice presidential search process for Barack Obama. I have a good working relationship with him, and I know… people in Washington, and I want to be able to be part of the team that uses all my relationships.”
From CNN Politics
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