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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Caroline Kennedy eyeing Senate seat

JFK’s daughter would replace Clinton

Kennedy (Anonymous Anonymous / The Spokesman-Review)
By DEVLIN BARRETT and BETH FOUHY Associated Press

WASHINGTON – Caroline Kennedy is interested in the Senate seat that would open once Hillary Rodham Clinton becomes secretary of state, according to a close relative who says the powerful Kennedy clan is fully behind her rising to the office previously held by her uncle.

“I know she’s interested,” Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told the Associated Press in a telephone interview Friday. “She spent a lot of her life balancing public service with obligations to her family. Now her children are grown, and she is ready to move onto a bigger stage.”

Once Clinton is confirmed to President-elect Barack Obama’s Cabinet, New York Gov. David Paterson will appoint someone to fill the seat for two years.

The Kennedy family’s connections and history cannot force Paterson to choose Caroline, but the family’s strong support could make it difficult for him not to.

Robert Kennedy said the family would come out en masse for her if she does get the appointment and has to run for election in 2010.

“If she runs, you will see more Kennedys than you have ever seen in your life,” he said.

An environmental lawyer who took himself out of consideration for the Senate seat earlier this week, Robert Kennedy said he has spoken to his cousin about the position and is one of “many, many people” urging her to seek it.

He also offered a policy rationale for her in the role: education.

“She’s probably one of the leading advocates in the nation on public education. She feels a lot of the issues she’s worked on are in danger of being shunted aside because of the economic crisis,” he said.

Democrats said Caroline Kennedy and Paterson have already spoken about the Senate seat, and she is interested.

Kennedy, 51, is the daughter of President John F. Kennedy and a niece of brothers Edward and Robert. Robert Kennedy held the New York seat from 1965 until his assassination in 1968. Edward Kennedy has been a senator from Massachusetts since 1963.

As a prominent member of the Kennedy clan, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg is the kind of high-profile, historic figure who could overshadow many other New York politicians hoping to be Paterson’s choice. As a prominent booster of Barack Obama’s presidential bid, Kennedy spent much of 2008 taking bigger steps onto the public stage.

Paterson has said he is in no rush to make a decision, and Clinton is not giving up the seat before she is confirmed as President-elect Barack Obama’s secretary of state.