Kennedy, no, Cuomo, no -- Gillibrand

by Mark Silva

Kirsten Gillibrand.

You know, that Kirsten Gillibrand - the second-term congresswoman from upstate New York. The governor has chosen her to fill the Senate seat of former U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, whom President Barack Obama has made secretary of state.

Hardly a "brand-name'' pick, though it is, actually.

The Associated Press in Albany cites an aide to Gov. David Paterson, who will formally make the announcement today.

He could have tapped a Kennedy - Caroline Kennedy, daughter of President John Kennedy, who, you know, had made her desire for the seat known and then waged a semi-sort of campaign, you know, that didn't go very well. She finally bowed out for "personal reasons,'' which The New York Times said had something to do with a housekeeping and tax problems in the vetting.

He could have tapped a Cuomo - state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, son of the former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, renowned orator. He, like Kennedy, could have made a good run for the office come election time in 2010, and also helped Paterson with his own bid for election, having risen to the office by virtue of the prostitution scandal that derailed the former governor, Eliot Spitzer.
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Yet Gillibrand is "a proven vote-getter in a largely rural eastern New York district that sprawls from the mid-Hudson Valley to north of Albany,'' the AP Albany bureau notes. "She defeated a long-term Republican incumbent in 2006 and won re-election last year by a wide margin.

"Gender plus geography equals Gillibrand," says Doug Muzzio, a political science professor at Baruch College, who sees her upstate base as a boon for Paterson, whose base rests in the heavily Democratic New York City.

(AP Photo of Rep, Kirsten Gillibrand by Tim Roske,/ AP)

""On the minus side, she's an unproven statewide vote-getter, a conservative 'Blue Dog' Democrat who could face a primary challenge in 2010 and face a tough general election," Muzzio told the AP. "Also, her congressional seat, the 20th, is a mostly Republican district that she first won in 2006 after a long Republican monopoly."

Gillibrand, 42, becomes the only woman on a statewide party ticket that will include Paterson, Cuomo, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and senior U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer of New York. For the record, Gillibrand starts with one popular stance: She voted against the $700 billion Wall Street bailout bill.

Gillibrand served in the Housing and Urban Development Department during the Clinton administration. She worked as a lawyer before challenging Republican John Sweeney in 2006 to represent New York's 20th District In November, Gillibrand defeated wealthy General Electric heir Sandy Treadwell, the ormer state Republican chairman "seen as one of the Republican Party's best chances to capture a congressional seat in New York,'' the AP notes.

Gillibrand is a graduate of Dartmouth College with a law degree from UCLA. And she is the daughter of an Albany lobbyist, Douglas Rutnik.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.