The media loves stories that are closed circles, and for decades Caroline Kennedy has been a tangent to one of their favorite story lines of the last century: the three-way romance between the Kennedy family, politics, and disaster. Somehow Caroline has managed to frustrate the media (and many people’s) goal of looping her into that cycle — after over twenty years of peace, she remains married to her first husband, and after 51 years of life, she remains outside of public office. How frustrating! This year, though, Caroline gave a glimmer of an indication that she’s finally going to get involved in public policy when she endorsed Barack Obama and joined his vice-presidential search committee.
But that, apparently, was not enough. Over the past couple of weeks, since Hillary Clinton was named as a potential secretary of State nominee, Kennedy’s name has been reported countlessly — and with increasing insistence — as a possible replacement in the U.S. Senate. Kennedy met with Governor David Paterson to learn more about the role last week, and since then everyone’s been obsessed. Tom Brokaw even asked President-elect Barack Obama, who technically has nothing to do with the decision, what he thought about it on Meet the Press over the weekend. It’s the going plotline in the coverage of Senate-seat replacement. Except it’s just not that likely to happen! The Post reports today that Paterson is leaning heavily toward other candidates (you know, ones who have been elected by New Yorkers to at least one office). Reporter Frederic U. Dicker puts the odds of a Kennedy pick at 20–1. In fact, the Daily News adds, Caroline herself isn’t even that into it — it’s her family that is pushing her. New York needs a super-aggressive representative who will fight like a pit bull for rescue money for the state, not somebody who is known for her grace and reluctance to enter the public eye.
Of course, according to the rules of these things, now when Paterson picks someone else, the story will be “CAMELOT CONNED” or some rubbish like that.
PATERSON COOL ON CAROLINE [NYP]
’Family push’ will be deciding factor for Caroline Kennedy [NYDN]
