Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of a former president who whipped up excitement and controversy during her campaign for the New York Senate seat, withdrew from consideration Wednesday night, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The reason for Ms. Kennedy’s decision wasn’t creasons, lear. The New York Times cited an unidentified person who said she did so because of her uncle’s health. Sen. Edward Kennedy, of Massachusetts, who has a brain tumor, collapsed at an inaugural lunch Tuesday for President Barack Obama. The New York Post, citing its own contacts, said Ms. Kennedy had made her decision after learning she wasn’t to be the choice.

Neither Ms. Kennedy nor her spokesman could be reached for comment. An aide to Gov. Paterson said the governor had no comment at press time.

The sudden reversal throws open the race for the seat. Gov. Paterson had acknowledged as recently as Tuesday that he was considering New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to succeed Hillary Clinton, who resigned from the Senate Wednesday after taking the cabinet post of secretary of state. Another candidate, Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, is also believed to have emerged as a darkhorse choice for the appointment. To be sure, Mr. Paterson could also choose others.

Ms. Kennedy’s decision is a deflating ending to her courting of the position after having spent much of her life in carefully guarded privacy. While she has said Mr. Obama’s political emergence had awakened her desire to serve — she likened him in some ways to her father — she also didn’t have much traditional political or any legislative experience to prepare her for the job.

Rep. Gillibrand, 42, of Hudson, N.Y., was a securities attorney before she won her seat in 2006. She possesses several of the characteristics that would aid Gov. Paterson’s Democratic team: she’s a woman who has won well in Republican suburban upstate counties; she has a finance background and has devoted attention to aiding dairy farming families that have been forced to close their operations. A spokesperson for Rep. Gillibrand declined to comment.

Source: Wall Street Journal

Caroline Kennedy made the rounds from Midtown to The Bronx yesterday, meeting with representatives of key voting constituencies – Jews and Hispanics – as she pressed her “noncampaign” to be named US senator.

The 51-year-old Camelot daughter had a private breakfast at The Regency hotel with Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion – whose name has also been mentioned as a possibility for the seat being vacated by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

“We talked about immigration reform, and we talked about some of the problems we have with health care and the Medicaid shortage that we face here in the state,” Carrion told The Post, which first reported him as being vetted to head President-elect Barack Obama‘s new Office of Urban Policy.

Bronx Rep. Eliot Engel also sat down with Kennedy yesterday and insisted she was “down to earth” and would be “a fine senator.”

Source: NY Post

There’s no doubt Caroline Kennedy is wealthy. As part of one of America’s most famous and well-off families, she counts ties to exclusive properties and institutions that date back generations.

With a bid for public office, many of those sensitive links normally become public, as they have for others vying for Hillary Clinton’s seat.

But not for Kennedy. She’s refusing to divulge her financial interests unless picked for the post, another quirk of an election-free Senate race that’s perfectly legal, but troubling to some.

“Technically she’s not a candidate in the true sense of the word. But that doesn’t mean that she shouldn’t come forward with the kind of disclosure that would be required of other candidates,” said Dick Dadey, Citizens Union.

Ultimately, Governor Paterson will have the final decision.

“If Governor Paterson were to choose Caroline, she would, of course, comply with all disclosure requirements,” said a Kennedy spokesman.

That would include a form outlining investments and other income for a candidate and his or her spouse.

It’s unclear what Paterson himself is asking candidates. A spokesman said they will be vetted the same way Paterson’s cabinet picks were, which involves a police background check.

Individual candidates, however, decide whether they want to make anything public.

“It’s precisely because there is no campaign or election that she should release information, so that the public gets to know who she is and what she stands for,” said Dadey.

Meanwhile, growing concern about Kennedy’s campaign is prompting one of her supporters to tell Paterson to hurry up.

“The governor should make a decision reasonably quickly because this is just getting out of control,” said Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Some in the state’s congressional delegation are questioning Kennedy’s credentials, although others think her connections and service will boost New York.

As for picking someone quickly, the governor’s spokesman responded by saying Paterson will move fast, once Clinton is officially confirmed as secretary of state.

Source: NY1

It was a quick, upstate tour for Caroline Kennedy on Wednesday as she broke the silence on her decision to pursue Hillary Clinton’s senate seat.

First it was Syracuse, then Rochester, then snowy Buffalo.

“Now it’s time I think with the problems that we have for me to really step forward and do more,” said Kennedy, referencing the state’s soon-to-be open US Senate seat.

Caroline Kennedy is already atop of the governor’s list. But trying to ward off charges she’s just running on her family name, Kennedy began a listening tour of sorts off her Manhattan circuit, reminiscent of that done nine years before by the woman she wants to succeed.

While Clinton’s lasted months, Kennedy’s was crammed into a day.

“First of all, this was a great visit and I’ve already learned a lot. And I would come back, were I to be fortunate enough to be chosen,” said Kennedy.

Her first time in at least one stop, she met each time with mayors to discuss local issues from fleeing population to economic development to schools.

“In the last year, I spent a lot of time campaigning across this country, in a lot of communities that are struggling with the same kind of issues, and obviously New York State is hit harder than most and I saw really the need for people who are strong advocates, who have relationships in Washington and I would do everything I can,” said Kennedy.

Everyone stressed it was Paterson’s call alone. But it was clear that Kennedy’s star power shines in the north.

“Well, first of all it really is an honor having Caroline Kennedy visit Rochester,” said Rochester Mayor Robert J. Duffy.

“Ms. Kennedy is a very strong, candidate, is a candidate that would fight for the entire State of New York and I look forward to continuing our dialogue,” said Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown.

Without the Kennedy name, of course, she’d never be a candidate — an issue she avoided in Syracuse, then briefly addressed in Buffalo.

“I know that I’m fortunate to be in a position where people know who I am and I want to put that to work,” said Kennedy.

It’s unclear where the next stop is on the abbreviated tour before Paterson’s announcement next month. Kennedy is stressing she’s not campaigning, but in effect she is in an attempt to be seen as qualified and humble.

Source: NY1

It wasn’t just another charity appearance for Caroline Kennedy on Tuesday.

This time, it was philanthropy and politics.

But if the former first daughter was leaning towards becoming a senator, she wasn’t saying anything while making her way into and out of Saint Vincent’s Hospital Tuesday.

Some people at the auction for Saint Vincent’s wondered if Kennedy wants another Camelot chapter in Washington, but hospital staff would not allow such questioning

“We did not allow it,” said Maribeth Welch, a representative for Saint Vincent’s Catholic Medical Centers.

But Caroline Kennedy seems to be the only one not offering an opinion on Caroline Kennedy.

Her family isn’t nearly as reluctant. They’re increasingly talking her up and lobbying Governor David Paterson, who will pick Hillary Clinton’s successor.

“She is a completely 100 percent committed public servant, and she’s a woman and she’s a mother. And as a result of that she comes to this position with a unique perspective on life,” said Kerry Kennedy, daughter of the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Caroline’s first cousin.

But Andrew Cuomo is also in the mix. The attorney general is tied in a new poll with Caroline Kennedy, who happens to be his ex-wife’s cousin.

Cuomo is also favored by the State’s top Republican, Senator Dean Skelos.

“She has to understand that it’s a lot of work to being a US Senator, you have to travel the state, you have to travel to small communities upstate when it’s snowing out. There’s a lot of work to it, it’s not just glamorous,” said Skelos.

And a Kennedy won’t be a deterrent for Republican Congressman Peter King, who said if he raises enough money he’ll run in 2010, when the seat is first up.

Fundraising prowess is also a factor for Paterson as is juggling issues and representing all New Yorkers.

“It would be a person who offers more hope than history and a greater imagination than experience to try to achieve those goals,” said Paterson.

Kennedy is well connected to President-elect Barack Obama, a fact that, sources say, has the governor very open to her if she’s interested.

As for other candidates, Paterson said there have been so many, he can’t remember them all.

Meanwhile, a new poll Tuesday showed New Yorkers are evenly split on who they’d like to see in Hillary Clinton’s senate seat.

In a Marist College poll, Kennedy and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo are favored by 25 percent of those surveyed. Another 26 percent are undecided.

Other candidates, including Congresswomen Nydia Velazquez and Carolyn Maloney and Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion each polled in single digits.

More Democrats say they would choose Kennedy, with 31 percent favoring her compared to 21 percent for Cuomo.

The poll of 503 registered voters conducted Monday has a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points.

Several more outlying candidates also emerged Tuesday, including longtime teachers union leader Randi Weingarten and actress Fran Drescher.

Source: NY1