Caroline Kennedy: Clinton Senate Replacement?

Caroline Kennedy

Born Caroline Bouvier Kennedy November 27, 1957 (1957-11-27) (age 51)
New York, New York, U.S.

Education Harvard University
Columbia Law School
Occupation Attorney
Author
Political party Democratic
Religious beliefs Roman Catholic
Spouse(s) Edwin Arthur Schlossberg (since 1986)
Children Rose, Tatiana, and John
Parents John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis

Caroline Bouvier Kennedy (born November 27, 1957) is an American author and attorney. She is the daughter and only surviving child of U.S. President John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy.

Early life

Kennedy was born in New York City and is named after her maternal aunt Caroline Lee Radziwill and a maternal great-grandmother. An older sister was stillborn in 1956. Her brother John Jr. was born in November 1960 and died in a plane crash along with his wife and sister-in-law in July 1999. Another brother, Patrick, died two days after his birth of a lung ailment in August of 1963. She lived in the Washington, DC neighborhood of Georgetown until a few months after her third birthday, when her family moved to the White House upon her father's inauguration as President of the United States in 1961. Following her father's assassination in November 1963, she moved back to Georgetown with her mother and brother. However, their home soon became a popular tourist attraction in Washington, and they moved back to New York City in mid-1964 where they lived in the penthouse apartment at 1040 Fifth Avenue, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

In 1967, she christened the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy, which was in active service until March 23, 2007. A photo of a young Caroline with her pony in a news article inspired singer-songwriter Neil Diamond to write his hit song "Sweet Caroline," a fact he revealed only when performing it for her 50th birthday in November 2007.

In 1975 she was visiting London to complete a nine-month art course at the Sotheby's auction house. On 23 October a car bomb, placed by the IRA under the car of her host, Conservative MP Hugh Fraser, exploded shortly before Caroline and Fraser were due to leave for their daily drive to Sothebys. Caroline was running late and had not yet left the house, but a passerby, the oncologist Gordon Fairley, was killed.

She received her B.A. from Harvard University and her J.D. from Columbia Law School, after attending the Brearley School, and Convent of the Sacred Heart in Manhattan, and Concord Academy in Massachusetts.

Personal life
After interning with her uncle U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy, and at The New York Daily News, Caroline Kennedy began work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1980, where she met her future husband, the exhibit designer Edwin Schlossberg.[1]

Kennedy and Schlossberg were married on July 19, 1986 at Our Lady of Victory Church in Centerville, Massachusetts. Caroline's maid of honor was her cousin Maria Shriver. Caroline was walked down the aisle by her uncle Ted. Although she is often referred to as Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, she actually kept her birth name after her marriage.

Kennedy and her family live on Park Avenue in Manhattan. She and her husband have two daughters and one son: Rose Kennedy Schlossberg (born on June 25, 1988 in New York City; she is named after her maternal great-grandmother); Tatiana Celia Kennedy Schlossberg (born on May 5, 1990 in New York City; she is named after her father's former colleague, the lithographer Tatiana Grossman, and her father's grandmother); and John Bouvier Kennedy Schlossberg (born on January 19, 1993 in New York City; he is named after his maternal grandfather). She also owns her mother's 375-acre (1.52 km2) estate in Aquinnah (formerly Gay Head) on the Island of Martha's Vineyard known as Red Gate Farm.

Professional life

Kennedy is an attorney, editor, writer and member of the New York and Washington, D.C. bars. She is one of the founders of the Profiles in Courage Award, given annually to a person who exemplifies the type of courage examined in her father's Pulitzer Prize-winning book of the same name. The award is generally given to elected officials who, acting in accord with their conscience, risk their careers by pursuing a larger vision of the national, state or local interest in opposition to popular opinion or powerful pressures from their constituents. In May 2002, she presented an unprecedented Profiles in Courage Award to representatives of the NYPD, the New York City Fire Department, and the military as representatives of all of the people who acted to save the lives of others during the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.[2]

Kennedy is currently President of the Kennedy Library Foundation,[3] a director of both the Commission on Presidential Debates and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and Honorary Chairman of the American Ballet Theatre. She is also an adviser to the Harvard Institute of Politics, a living memorial to her father.

Kennedy has represented her family at the funeral services of former Presidents Ronald Reagan in 2004 and Gerald Ford in 2007, and at the funeral service of former First Lady Lady Bird Johnson in 2007. She also represented her family at the dedication of the William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park in Little Rock, Arkansas in November 2004.

Works published

Kennedy and Ellen Alderman have written two books together on civil liberties:

In Our Defense: The Bill of Rights In Action (1990) and The Right to Privacy (1995)

On her own, she has edited these New York Times best-selling volumes:

A Patriot’s Handbook
The Best-Loved Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
A Family of Poems: My Favorite Poetry for Children
Profiles in Courage for Our Time

She is also the author of "A Family Christmas" a collection of poems, prose and personal notes from her family history.

Clinton's Senate Seat: Who Will Replace Her?
The Huffington Post
December 1, 2008

The New York Times reports today that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has called the governor to take his name out of the running for Clinton's senate seat.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an environmental lawyer and son of the onetime senator from New York, said this morning that he had telephoned Gov. David A. Paterson and explained that he was not interested being appointed to the United States Senate.

Former President Bill Clinton has also said that he hasno interest in replacing Hillary in the U.S. Senate. His spokesman told CNN that any speculation that he would be interested is "completely false."

Now that Hillary Clinton has officially been chosen as President-elect Barack Obama's Secretary of State, the battle for her Senate seat can begin in earnest. However, Ben Smith reports that Clinton isn't vacating the post just yet:

"Senator Clinton intends to remain in office through confirmation," emails spokesman Philippe Reines.

UPDATE: Says New York Governor David Paterson in a statement: "In order to appoint the best possible candidate to replace Senator Clinton, I am consulting with a wide variety of individuals from all across New York State. I expect to announce Senator Clinton's replacement when the position becomes officially vacant."

Meanwhile, one of the top contenders has withdrawn herself from consideration.

Rep. Nita Lowey (D-Westchester) -- considered to be a frontrunner to replace Hillary Clinton in the Senate -- is withdrawing herself from consideration, her spokesman tells Politico.

The 11-term congresswoman, who stepped aside to allow Clinton to run in 2000, thinks she can "be more effective" in the House where she chairs the homeland subcommittee on the appropriations.

Several possible Lowey competitors told Politico they would have stepped aside if Lowey had pushed for the job. But in recent days, she had begun telling colleagues she had no interest in relinquishing her role as a "cardinal" -- one of the House's top appropriators.

Kennedy Is Said to Withdraw Senate Bid
Decision Attributed to Concerns Over Uncle’s Health
By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE and DANNY HAKIM
New York Times

Caroline Kennedy told Gov. David Paterson that she no longer wanted to be considered for the New York Senate seat vacated by Hillary Rodham Clinton, according to a person who was told of her decision.

A Kennedy family member said Caroline has not withdrawn.

BBB

Not being from NY, I think C. Kennedy was taken light, as I've read about her work for E. Kennedy re legislature.
On the other hand, I don't get the head of the line thing.
Mostly, this all is not my business, just curious.

The L.A. Times reports today that Caroline Kennedy drops out of the Senate race.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-na-caroline22-2009jan22,0,5877639.story

I posted on this here
http://able2know.org/topic/126965-2#post-3545256
because i did not find this thread, its only tag being democrats. If tags are not going to be applied consistently and well this system is worthless.

I don't know how to create a new tag title. I tried to find out how to do it. Do you know how?

BBB

Last updated: 7:55 pm
January 21, 2009
Posted: 6:43 pm
January 21, 2009

Caroline Kennedy tonight withdrew her name from consideration to replace Hillary Clinton in the U.S. Senate after learning that Gov. David Paterson wasn't going to choose her, The Post has learned.

Kennedy's decision removes the highest-profile name in the ring to step into Clinton's now-vacant seat, as she departs after getting confirmed today as President Obama's Secretary of State.

MORE: Caroline The 'Certain' Pick For Dave: Rivals

Sources said the reason Paterson had decided not to tap the daughter of John F. Kennedy was her poor performances in media interviews and in in private sessions with various officials.

Aides to Kennedy couldn't be reached for comment.

Paterson has said he is not yet sure who he will select, but plans to announce his pick by this weekend - and an announcement is expected either Friday or Saturday.

At the top of the page, near the thread's title and under the existing tags (to the right of the two thumbs), there is a series of links that read "Tag this Topic • Get Email Updates • Email this Topic • Print this Page " in green ink. Click the one that says "Tag this Topic" and a box will open where you can add multiple tag words.

well that sure blew up in her face, she must have expected Paterson and all of his people to keep hush-hush. Why I have no idea, they must be a bit peeved that an incompetent wasted so much of their time masquerading as a serious candidate.

Thanks. It worked for me.

BBB

Now it's official. Caroline Kennedy no longer wants to replace Hillary Clinton's senate seat.

BBB

Housekeeper and Taxes Are Said to Derail Kennedy’s Bid
By DANNY HAKIM and NICHOLAS CONFESSORE
New York Times
Published: January 22, 2009

ALBANY " Problems involving taxes and a household employee surfaced during the vetting of Caroline Kennedy and derailed her candidacy for the Senate, a person close to Gov. David A. Paterson said on Thursday, in an account at odds with Ms. Kennedy’s own description of her reasons for withdrawing.

The account emerged 14 hours after Ms. Kennedy announced that she was taking her name out of contention for the Senate seat vacated by Hillary Rodham Clinton, and as Mr. Paterson, according to two well-placed Democrats told of his thinking, was leaning toward selecting Representative Kirsten E. Gillibrand, an upstate lawmaker in her second term in Congress.

Hard feelings toward Ms. Kennedy were clearly building among the governor’s staff on Thursday, after a dramatic evening in which she was reported to be dropping out, then wavering, then ultimately, shortly after midnight on Thursday, issuing a statement ending her candidacy.

The person close to the governor said Mr. Paterson “never had any intention of picking Kennedy” because he had come to consider her unready for the job. The person did not describe the exact nature or seriousness of the tax and household employee issues.

But other Democratic operatives and people who talked to the governor disputed that account, and said that he had all but decided to select Ms. Kennedy as senator, and that his staff was arranging a press conference for late this week.

An aide to Ms. Kennedy said Thursday that while Ms. Kennedy had not been told for certain that she was the choice, there were strong indications that she would be.

During the early afternoon Wednesday, the aide said, Ms. Kennedy became aware of what the aide referred to as a “personal situation” that could prevent her from fulfilling her duties as senator. The personal situation was not related to the seizure that her uncle, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, suffered during an inauguration luncheon on Tuesday, the aide said, declining to be more specific.

Another aide to Ms. Kennedy, while not denying there were issues that emerged during her vetting, said that there was nothing that surfaced that would disqualify her from the appointment, and that the Kennedy camp and the governor’s operation had been discussing how to publicly disclose the issues.

Virtually no one in state politics on Thursday was willing to make a bet on the appointment the unpredictable governor might make in the end. And the governor and his aides remained shocked at the recent turn of events and stung by criticism of their handling of the process. They have maintained almost complete silence since Wednesday afternoon.

Several people who have spoken to the governor said he had decided on Ms. Kennedy some time ago. A Democrat operative with ties to Mr. Paterson said the governor told Ms. Kennedy last week that she was the choice, but that he would use the next few days to do “a little misdirection to keep the suspense up.”

A person close to the governor adamantly denied that assertion.

“The fiasco of the last 24 hours reinforced why the governor never intended to choose her,” the person said.

The aide to Ms. Kennedy said she called the governor around 3 or 4 p.m. on Wednesday to tell him that she would be withdrawing from consideration for the appointment. According to the aide, Mr. Paterson told Ms. Kennedy to take a day to think about it. At no point, the aide said, did the governor tell Ms. Kennedy she was out of consideration.

“He was saying she was a contender, she was involved, and things were going the way they were going,” the aide said. “He did not tell her either way that it was yes or no, but that she was still being considered.”

At that point, the aide said, Ms. Kennedy began consulting with friends and family. Around the same time, news outlets, including The New York Post and The New York Times, began reporting that Ms. Kennedy had withdrawn.

The Paterson administration initially refused to respond to reporters. When they did, Errol Cockfield, a spokesman for Mr. Paterson, said in a very brief interview around 7 p.m. that the governor had called reports that Ms. Kennedy was withdrawing “just the rumor of the day.”

But at the time, according to Ms. Kennedy’s aide, the governor and Ms. Kennedy had already spoken about the possibility of her withdrawing. And a little over an hour later, Mr. Cockfield asked that the statement not be published.

Ms. Kennedy’s own political advisers appeared at times to be unable to reach her on Wednesday night. At one point, Ms. Kennedy was drafting a statement reaffirming her interest in the seat. But the aide said that Ms. Kennedy ultimately concluded that she would go ahead with her plan to withdraw.

Between 10 and 11 p.m., the aide said, Ms. Kennedy called the governor to thank him for giving her time to think it over and definitively withdrew from the race.

In a statement sent by e-mail at 12:03 a.m. Thursday, Ms. Kennedy announced she was withdrawing from the race for personal reasons.

“I informed Governor Paterson today that for personal reasons I am withdrawing my name from consideration for the United States Senate,” the statement said.

The Senate selection, and Ms. Kennedy’s withdrawal, eclipsed all other issues in the capital on Thursday. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg traveled to Albany to address lawmakers about the state budget, but reporters asked him only for his reaction to Ms. Kennedy’s actions. Mr. Bloomberg had supported her candidacy.

“I’ll probably give her a call today and say, my thoughts are with you,” the mayor said. “I wish her all the best and I think she should continue to stay involved in public service. She’s a great New Yorker and her husband is a really nice guy that I like.”

Assemblyman Carl E. Heastie, the chairman of the Democratic Party in the Bronx, met with Ms. Kennedy last Friday and heard her pitch.

“She told me why she thought she’d be the best senator and we talked about politics in general, her family, it was a good meeting,” he said, adding of the latest development, “nothing surprises me in politics.”

Ted Kennedy's Circle Upset by Caroline's Awkward Exit
By Karen Tumulty - Time Magazine
Thursday, Jan. 22, 2009

Of all the many ways in which Caroline Kennedy's brief and unofficial candidacy for the U.S. Senate was mishandled, one final ungraceful note is striking particularly close to home. Sources close to Senator Edward M. Kennedy tell TIME that his circle is furious that his brain cancer has been cited by some in her camp as the reason for her decision to withdraw her name from consideration for the Senate seat being vacated by Hillary Clinton in New York.

"It looks horrible," says a former aide to Ted Kennedy. "It makes him look like he is at death's door." In fact, those close to Kennedy, 76, say that while the Senator is suffering occasional seizures, like the one that sent him to a hospital on Tuesday during the celebratory Capitol lunch for the newly inaugurated President, he is generally doing well. And they add that Kennedy is fully engaged in the effort to pass universal health-care legislation " a cause for which he has fought for decades, and one in which he will play a crucial role as chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

"He is crazy about her. He encouraged her" in her bid for the Senate seat, one close associate says of Ted Kennedy's relationship with his niece. "But using him as an excuse, as though things were on the downward spiral, is not going to be O.K. with him ... This will get in the way of health reform" " by suggesting that a key legislator involved in putting the bill together may be incapacitated.

The first reports that Caroline Kennedy had withdrawn her name came early Wednesday evening, and they touched off a frenzied effort by her camp to deny it. Her terse statement, issued shortly after midnight, cited unspecified "personal reasons" for her decision to notify New York Governor David Paterson that she no longer wanted to be considered for the post.

Multiple reports suggested that those around her " and possibly Caroline Kennedy herself " were citing her uncle's condition as a reason, despite the fact that his illness and prognosis has been known for months. The New York Times, for instance, wrote in its Thursday morning edition: "The person who spoke with Ms. Kennedy said she cited concerns about the health of her uncle, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who suffers from brain cancer and was hospitalized after a seizure Tuesday, as the reason for her abrupt withdrawal."

Those reports were not denied until shortly after TIME.com initially reported that Senator Kennedy's inner circle was angry at his health being used as a justification for her withdrawal. "It has nothing to do with Senator Kennedy," said an aide to Caroline Kennedy, who previously had not responded to TIME.com's request for comment. Meanwhile, a source close to the Senator added, "The Kennedy people are not upset with the Caroline people, because they know it didn't come from her."

The aide also provided a chronology of Caroline Kennedy's decision to withdraw from the race. According to him, as late as Wednesday morning, the daughter of former President John F. Kennedy had been given every indication that she would receive the appointment to the Senate by Governor Paterson. During the afternoon, however, she became aware of what he described as an unspecified "personal situation." She called Paterson to inform him that she was withdrawing her name from consideration, but the governor asked her to reconsider that decision, which she did.

However, early Wednesday evening, while she was still mulling her decision, New York news outlets began reporting that she had taken herself out of the running. Caroline Kennedy called Paterson with her final decision after 10 p.m. E.T.

Both the New York Post and New York Daily News have quoted sources saying that Caroline Kennedy withdrew her name after learning that Paterson " who has the sole authority to name the replacement for Clinton " had decided against picking her. Recent polls have shown that while she was once considered a strong candidate for the position, New Yorkers now say they would prefer state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo " another member of a famous political family, and a former cousin-by-marriage of Caroline Kennedy. A series of tense media appearances and an unusually aggressive behind-the-scenes lobbying campaign by New York power brokers on her behalf have helped damage Kennedy's once unimpeachable above-the-fray image.

Those close to the Kennedy family are appalled at how Caroline's brief political career has fared. "Everything that was special about her got stripped away," says one. But this source, among others, says Caroline, an intensely private person who has made her impact largely through charity and volunteer projects, may not in fact be suited to the rough-and-tumble family business.

Paterson has indicated that he will appoint a replacement for Clinton later this week.

Way too much gossip and he said she said he said that a person close to the person who is spreading rumors and the reporting of such as anonymously reliable; regardless of their name not being used as the source.

Well, it seems mostly guesses from what I've read up until now.

I figure it must be debilitating to have your 'you knows' counted - which I gather is not usual. (On the other hand... ) But my own best guess is that she suddenly decided she didn't want to go there, that the swirl in recent days has just been an indicator of how it would be - whether or not recent questions could have been overcome.

I'm not for her or against her. Did read quite a while ago about her steady work re the legislature for T. Kennedy, but am no analyst of that either. I pretty much get the gripes of people re her place in line, and see nepotism creep in our public life, much as some individual relative of a person in power could make sense.

I'm interested in Cuomo, another in that mix, but don't know enough to comment.

HI,
YES, I'M NEW TO THIS OLD, OLD THREAD, BUT SPEAKING OF OLD, SWEET CAROLINE'S FACE IS OLD AS HELL--AND LOOKS ABOUT AS BURNED UP. SOMEONE SAID SHE'S INTELLIGENT BECAUSE SHE GRADUATED FROM COLUMBIA? HA, HA--GROW UP BITCH, THE KENNEDY CLAN, LIKE MOST CONNECTED ELITISTS, BUY THEIR DEGREES--C'MON, YOU THINK THAT DIMWIT EVER NEEDED TO STRING A COGENT SENTENCE TOGETHER AT ALL THOSE DRUNKEN KENNEDY CLAN THANKSGIVING DAY SHINDIGS? THE MOST INTELLIGENT MEMBER OF THE FAMILY WAS THE MENTALLY RETARDED CHILD THE KENNEDIES INSTITUTIONALIZED BECAUSE SHE WASN'T "NORMAL." AT LEAST SARAH PALIN ACTUALLY HAS THE, HOW SHALL I SAY, "TESTICLES" TO NOT ONLY RAISE HER DEVELOPMENTALLY CHALLENGED CHILD HERSELF (CONTRARY TO JOE AND ROSE WHO TREATED THE CHILD LIKE THE LABEL "RETARD," AN UNFORTUNATE PROPHETIC-FUFILLING ASSIGNATION), BUT TO NOT BE ASHAMED OF HIM BY LOCKING HIM UP AND MAKING THE "PROBLEM" GO AWAY. GRANDMA MOSES? WELL, LIKEWISE CONTRARY TO CAROLINE KENNEDY, HAD SOME TALENT, REALLY WAS GENUINELY INTELLIGENT AND WAS A TRUE YANKEE (IF YOUR LIMITED MIND CAN CONCEIVE OF ITS ORIGINAL HISTORICAL MEANING) IN EVERY COMPLIMENTARY SENSE. FOR A 101 YEAR OLD, SHE LOOKS BETTER THAN CAROLINE EVER WILL--AND SHE NEVER HAD OR EVER NEEDED EXTENSIVE COSMETIC SURGERY. AS CAROLINE WOULD SAY SUCCINCTLY, "YA KNOW?"