Sources: Caroline Kennedy asks about Clinton Senate seat

NEW YORK (CNN) – Caroline Kennedy has called New York Gov. David Paterson to ask about the Senate seat to be vacated by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton if she is confirmed as secretary of state in the new Barack Obama administration, Democratic sources tell CNN.

One Democratic source close to the Kennedy family confirmed that Kennedy has had conversations with Paterson and "is interested to say the least" about discussing the Senate vacancy. This source says Kennedy has asked a tight circle of other family friends and political advisers for advice.

A second source, who has knowledge of Kennedy's conversation with Paterson, tells CNN that Kennedy reached out to inquire about the responsibilities and impact such a move would have if she were selected by the governor to fill the position.

In an interview Friday with CNN affiliate NY1 News, Paterson added his own confirmation, saying, "I took a call from her Wednesday night but, I'm not going to talk about the conversation, that just adds more speculation and I don't think it's particularly relevant."
Asked if Kennedy expressed interest in the seat, Paterson replied, "We talked about a number of things, the seat did come up in the conversation."
Paterson added that he was not going to discuss anyone specifically that he might consider to fill the seat if Clinton vacates it to become secretary of state.
"I'm not talking about lists, individuals or anything like that. That just, in my opinion, obfuscates the process," Paterson said.



On Sunday, January 27, 2008, Kennedy announced in a New York Times op-ed piece entitled, "A President Like My Father," that she would endorse Barack Obama in the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Her concluding lines were: "I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president — not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans." This was the first time she had endorsed a presidential candidate other than when she endorsed her uncle, Ted Kennedy, in 1980.

Federal Election Commission records show that Kennedy contributed $2300 to the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign committee on June 29, 2007. She had previously contributed a total of $5000 to Clinton's senatorial campaign in 2006. On September 18, 2007, she contributed $2300 to Barack Obama's presidential campaign committee.

On June 4, 2008, the day after becoming the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Barack Obama named Caroline Kennedy, along with former Fannie Mae CEO Jim Johnson, and Eric Holder, to co-chair his Vice Presidential Search Committee. On August 19, 2008, filmmaker Michael Moore called on Caroline Kennedy to "Pull a Cheney" (as in Dick Cheney who headed President George W. Bush's vice presidential vetting committee in 2000), and name herself as Barack Obama's vice presidential running mate. On August 23, 2008, Obama announced that Senator Joe Biden of Delaware would be his running mate. Kennedy addressed the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, introducing a tribute film about her uncle, Senator Ted Kennedy.



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Now That They've Won, What Will They Do?

Cornell professors predict the Obama administration`s course
(Nov 5, 2008 at Cornell University)

Richard Booth, professor of city and regional planning
Ted Lowi, the John L. Senior Professor of American Institutions
M. Elizabeth Sanders, professor of government
Joel Silbey, the President White Professor of History Emeritus
What will President-elect Barack Obama do once in office? What can he realistically do?

From the nation's economic crisis and its bloated budget deficit to the crises in health care and foreign policy, four Cornell professors agreed that Obama's reform agenda faces daunting challenges. The problems also include working with wounded Republicans, frustrations from the inherent complexities of the nation's woes and the glacial pace of Congress.

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Ahmed Rashid: Descent into Chaos

The US and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Central Asia.
Speaker: Ahmed Rashid, author and journalist.
(Jun 10, 2008 at the University of Chicago. Courtesy of CHIASMOS)

The growing instability and resurgence of Islamic extremism in Afghanistan and Pakistan pose a great threat to U.S. interests and global security. In his new book, Descent into Chaos, Ahmed Rashid examines the rising insurgency, booming opium trade, and weak governance in Afghanistan, concluding that U.S. strategy in the region has been a complete failure.

Ahmed Rashid is a Pakistani journalist based in Lahore. He was the Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia correspondent for the Far Eastern Economic Review, for 22 years until the magazine was recently closed down. He presently writes for the Daily Telegraph, London, the International Herald Tribune, the New York Review of Books, BBC Online, The Wall Street Journal, The Nation, and academic and foreign affairs journals. He appears regularly on international TV and radio such as CNN and BBC World Service. He is the author of three books, including the best sellers Taliban and most recently Jihad.

From the World Beyond the Headlines Series.

© 2008, The University of Chicago