Friends Say Kennedy Has Long Wanted Public Role

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Caroline Kennedy

Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of President John F. Kennedy, has announced she will seek appointment to the Senate seat vacated by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.).

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Clinton has expressed no opinion on who should succeed her.

Kerry Kennedy, who is divorced from Andrew Cuomo, another potential candidate for the seat, is among the relatives who have begun speaking out on her behalf. Kerry Kennedy said this week that there are three central reasons to appoint her cousin to the Senate: her grasp of financial matters, her scholarship of the Bill of Rights and her experiences as a working mother. "There are very few women in the Senate and very few mothers," she said on CNN. "And we really need someone with that experience, and I think Caroline will be great."

Ted Kennedy, a Democratic senator from Massachusetts, has openly encouraged his niece to seek the seat, advisers said.

Rivals have emerged for the position, among them candidates who have long held ambitions for higher office in New York, and some columnists around the country have dismissed the idea of the Senate seat being treated, in the words of conservative columnist George F. Will, like a family heirloom. Rep. Gary L. Ackerman (D) told a radio host last Wednesday that he did not know what Kennedy's qualifications are, "except that she has name recognition -- but so does J-Lo."

Other potential challengers, however, have been reluctant to speak negatively about the woman who could well be the next senator. Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D), thought to have a good shot at the Senate seat until the Kennedy name was raised, said yesterday: "It appears to be a widening field, and I'm honored to be among those mentioned. But this decision is solely Governor Paterson's decision. I am just concentrating on my work."

Rep. Gregory W. Meeks (D), whose name has come up as another possible candidate for the seat, said that he spoke to Paterson on Monday and that the governor was far from making a choice.

"I just can't emphasize enough that in my conversations with the governor, he has not made a decision yet," Meeks said. "It should not be a foregone conclusion that she will be an appointment."

And Robert Zimmerman, a Democratic National Committee member from New York, said Kennedy may have a tough case to make.

"She certainly has a life of great personal accomplishments," he said. "But she has to make the case why her experience qualifies her for the U.S. Senate.

"This is not an election about name recognition," he added. "It is about who can best serve the state of New York."

Correspondent Robin Shulman in New York and research director Lucy Shackelford and research editor Madonna A. Lebling in Washington contributed to this report.