Word around the campfire is that NY Governor David Paterson is about to name Caroline Kennedy as Hillary Clinton's replacement in the Senate. If so, talk about a difficult position for a freshman Senator to be in. I can't imagine that she would be able to get anyone in the Capitol building to give her the time of day for years.
The Senate is rough enough on most freshman members, but the other members of that very exclusive club reserve particular disdain for those who come in with nothing but a famous name and no particularly qualifying background. Caroline Kennedy has of course absolutely no history of serving in public office and while she is a very nice person she has absolutely no accomplishments to her name and has demonstrated a poor grasp of major issues in recent interviews. They are going to eat her alive.
Usually there is at least the common bond of having been through the very difficult and exhausting experience of a Senate campaign. But even that is not the case here. And to make matters worse, she will be a person who has never held public office appointed to the Senate by a Governor who in turn was never actually elected Governor. Her legitimacy would be extraordinarily remote, though entirely legal.
The best committee I expect she'll find herself on is trash pickup for the Capitol grounds. Paterson is making a deeply stupid decision if this rumor is true. New York will have a Senator in name only for the next few years. Had he chosen a member of Congress with some credibility then it would have been different. Even Andrew Cuomo, as a former Housing Secretary and current NY AG, would be better received. The choice of Caroline Kennedy as an appointed Senator suggests either a complete lack of understanding of the Senate culture on Paterson's part or a lack of caring whether the state of New York has real representation in the Senate.
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