Election Issues Today

Who gets the New York Senate Seat?

Cuomo, Kennedy, Gillibrand (l-r)

Now that Caroline has opted out of the Senate consideration, the focus for Hilary’s seat seems to be on Andrew Cuomo, the New York Attorney General and former HUD Secretary, and two term New York Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand.  Governor David Paterson is likely to announce his appointment choice in the next 24 hours, and no other top names have appeared recently. For weeks, there has been much speculation on whether Paterson would appoint a female to replace Hilary Clinton, and attention had been centered around Kennedy, and now, on Gillibrand.

I’ve seen that there is some concern that Andrew Cuomo’s younger brother, Chris, who works on-air at ABC’s Good Morning America, might present a political problem for Andrew (and for Governor Paterson), as some political and media persons are questioning the potential for a conflict-of-interest between family members sitting in the Senate and in the GMA anchor seat (potentially in the anchor seat, anyway).

I personally favored Caroline Kennedy for the Senate and thought she would have done an outstanding job in representing the people of New York.  At any rate, she has her own reasons for withdrawing her name from consideration and we have to respect that.

In the end, Governor Paterson may surprise everyone and appoint someone who has not been in the media and actively posturing for the Senate seat.