Caroline Kennedy quits Senator bid

In a shock announcement this morning, Caroline Kennedy said she was giving up her bid to replace Hillary Rodham Clinton as Senator for New York. She telephoned David A. Paterson, Democratic Governor of New York, who has the ultimate say on the matter, to inform him that she was no longer interested.

"I informed Governor Paterson today that for personal reasons I am withdrawing my name from consideration for the United States Senate," she said in a statement released by her public relations firm. Kennedy, 51, the daughter of President John F Kennedy, did not elaborate on her reasons.

Most observers agree that she gave poor media performances in recent weeks and that support among senior Democrats for her candidacy was only lukewarm. A recent poll revealed that only 37 per cent of New Yorkers supported her. Governor Patterson himself has been ambivalent. In a radio interview earlier this month, he said: "She has pluses and minuses. She has a tremendous relationship with the president and that's certainly a plus. She does not have much legislative experience, which is a minus."

The New York Post has cited an unidentified source as saying she dropped out because she had learned that Patterson had decided not to choose her. Spokesmen for Kennedy and Paterson refused to comment on this.

The negatives aside, there is also speculation that by dropping out she is now free to become the new US Ambassador to London, if, as some believe he will, Barack Obama offers her the post. She would be following in the footsteps of her grandfather, Joseph Kennedy.
 
Without Kennedy in the running, the best known candidate for the vacant Senate seat job is Andrew Cuomo, the state's Attorney General and son of New York's former governor Mario Cuomo. He was once married to Kerry Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy's cousin.

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