Another Kennedy...

As I live in New York I am being inundated with speculative articles regarding who Gov. Paterson should appoint to fill Hillary's seat when (not if, the Constitutional question of her appointment is extrememly weak, all the Senate needs to do is lower the salary to what is was before it was increased and SCOTUS won't step in) she is confirmed for SoS. The biggest, and therefore most frequent name mentioned is Caroline Kennedy.

Normally, I would be against a pick like this. Why not let an actual politician with some strong NY roots take the seat? The problem with that type of pick lies in who is being replaced. It's not merely a politician who is known within the state. She is the former First Lady and one time next POTUS. Clinton made the seat into a national platform and at the same time NY the center of the national political stage. If NY wants to have that same swing we will need another big name. Also, in a chamber that is ruled by seniority, if Paterson appoints a well known NY pol they will have no clout at all and NY will lose out, but if our new Senator has a famous uncle (even if he is a murderer) she would have more clout than she should as an incoming Senator.

NY is going to face some serious financial problems next year and we will be more likely to get federal aid with a big marquee name Senator than without it. Paterson should be thinking as big a name as possible for this pick.