The Replacements: Caroline Kennedy

by

The most recent rumor regarding the replacement for Sen. Hillary Clinton is that Obama friend and only surviving child of President John F. Kennedy Caroline Kennedy is under consideration by Gov. David Paterson. Caroline Kennedy is close to President-Elect Barack Obama and helped run his Vice Presidential search committee along with Eric Holder, who has since been tapped to be the next Attorney General. Kennedy also holds numerous positions related to both politics and her father’s legacy. The quick list of her current positions is as follows:

  • Director on the Commission on Presidential Debates
  • Director on the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
  • President of the Kennedy Library Foundation
  • Founder of the Profiles in Courage Award
  • Honorary Chairman of the American Ballet Theatre
  • Adviser to the Harvard Institute of Politics

Kennedy previously worked as the chief executive for the Office of Strategic Partnerships for the New York City Department of Education from 2002-2004. She is also an author of two books on civil liberties and the editor of four books.

Since Kennedy has never held or ran for elected office, it is difficult to use the network of Sunlight-related databases to research her involvements. The closest we can come is to look at her personal campaign contributions to political candidates. Here they are from 1994-2008:

Patrick Kennedy $5,250
Hillary Clinton $5,000
Barack Obama $4,600
Edward Kennedy $4,000
EMILY’s List $3,000
Chris Dodd $2,000
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte $2,500
John Kerry $2,000
DNC Services Corp. $2,000
Bill Clinton $1,000
Al Gore $1,000
Ned Lamont $1,000
Total $33,350

Despite the obvious partisan tilt of these donations, her biggest booster at the moment appears to be Independent (former Republican) Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg.

The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza gives Kennedy a 20-1 shot at being the replacement.