Bill and Hill play musical chairs...
Bill Clinton A Possible N.Y. Senate 'Caretaker?'
Democrats Pushing Paterson To Name Temp Replacement For Hillary; Scenario
Sets Up Wild Election In 2010
NEW YORK (CBS/AP) ―
Sen. Bill Clinton? Don't completely rule it out.
The former president is among several boldface names being touted as
possible "caretakers" for New York's Senate seat -- people who would
serve until the 2010 elections but wouldn't be interested in running to
keep the job.
As the process of picking Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's replacement
gets messier, the option may become increasingly attractive to Gov.
David Paterson, who has sole authority to name a successor.
A big name like Bill Clinton or Democratic former Gov. Mario Cuomo
could have an immediate impact for New York in the Senate while letting
the large field of hopefuls duke it out in 2010, according to three
Democratic Party advisers in New York and Washington who are close to
the discussion with Paterson's inner circle on this issue.
Two others in the party confirmed that Paterson is still considering
the caretaker option. The advisers spoke on the condition of anonymity
because they weren't authorized to comment.
"You could find a very senior person who could serve New York well" on
an interim basis, said Gerald Benjamin, a political scientist and dean
at the State University of New York at New Paltz. "Then you can say to
Caroline Kennedy, `You know, you'd make a good senator. Run for it.'
And you can tell everyone else that it's a level playing field."
Paterson has made it clear in recent days that he's getting annoyed by
the constant jockeying by supporters of high-powered hopefuls including
Kennedy, half a dozen members of Congress and state Attorney General
Andrew Cuomo, son of the former governor.
The candidates -- especially Kennedy -- have made daily headlines as
Paterson tries to focus on a fiscal crisis of historic proportions, his
first budget proposal and preparations for his first full legislative
session as governor. He took office last spring after disgraced Gov.
Eliot Spitzer resigned.
The caretaker option was exercised last month by Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann
Minner, who picked a former aide to Vice President-elect Joe Biden to
succeed him in the Senate until a new senator is elected in 2010. By
then, Biden's son, state Attorney General Beau Biden, will have
returned from a tour in Iraq with the National Guard -- just in time to
run for his father's seat.
A week ago, Paterson said he favored appointing a senator soon after
Clinton is confirmed to start building seniority, and he ruled out an
interim placeholder. Under state law, there will be an election to fill
the last two years of Hillary Clinton's term in 2010 and another for a
full six-year term in 2012.
The process, however, wasn't supposed to be a big distraction.
Some of the other names circulating as possible caretakers among party
operatives include the state's retired top jurist, Judith Kaye, and
former Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey, now president of the New School in New
York City.
Mario Cuomo and Kaye declined through spokesmen Tuesday to discuss the
Senate seat; Bill Clinton, Kerrey and Paterson did not respond to
questions Tuesday and Wednesday.
Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College poll, said the caretaker
option wouldn't surprise him. "To pick a caretaker is to say ... win it
in the court of public opinion."
An interim appointment also could sidestep an internal struggle in New York's
Democratic Party.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver -- the longest-serving and most
powerful legislative leader in the state -- has reservations about
Kennedy, and Paterson needs Silver if he wants to battle powerful labor
interests to turn around the state's fiscal problems.
But Kennedy's supporters include New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg,
a Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-independent who is another
important ally for Paterson.
Meanwhile, the handicapping continues about the prospects of some of the
lesser-known contenders.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York City, who is known as a tenacious
legislator, has been endorsed by three women's advocacy groups: the
National Organization for Women, the Feminist Majority and the National
Women's Political Caucus. Political observers say Paterson is under
pressure to pick a woman because all the state's top leaders -- except
Clinton -- are men.
In the political blog Connecting.the.dots, media critic and editor
Robert Stein wrote Sunday that a caretaker would show that Paterson has
the best interests of the state in mind during the fiscal crisis, while
letting powerful political families fight it out in an election two
years down the road.
Doug Muzzio, professor of politics at Baruch College, isn't convinced.
"If in fact you are looking to appoint a senator who can be an
effective advocate for the people of the state, those two years you can
learn a lot and to give that up is problematic."
But Muzzio also sees some benefit to Paterson in picking a caretaker.
"If he is feeling trapped about this Caroline Kennedy thing, this gives
him, in a sense, a way out ... without naming someone else that would
really anger the pro-Kennedy people," he said.
