Caroline Kennedy interested in Clinton's Senate seat

Caroline Kennedy is interested in the Senate seat that will open once Hillary Rodham Clinton becomes secretary of state, according to a close relative who says the powerful Kennedy clan fully supports her rising to the office previously held by her uncle.

Once Clinton is confirmed to President-elect Obama's Cabinet, New York Gov. David Paterson will appoint someone to fill the seat for two years.

Caroline Kennedy, 51, is the daughter of President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy, and a niece of Edward and Robert Kennedy. Robert Kennedy held the New York seat from 1965 until his assassination in 1968. Edward Kennedy has been a senator from Massachusetts since 1963.

"I know she's interested," said Robert Kennedy Jr., her cousin, in a telephone interview Friday. "She spent a lot of her life balancing public service with obligations to her family. Now her children are grown, and she is ready to move onto a bigger stage."

The Kennedy family's connections and history cannot force Paterson to choose Caroline Kennedy, but the family's strong support could make it difficult for him not to.

She called Paterson on Wednesday to discuss the position in what he called an "informational" conversation. "She did not express an interest in the Senate, but we talked about the Senate, so I got that she was just trying to get some information to determine whether or not she would like to have an interest in it. And that was it."

The governor has said he is in no rush to make a decision, and Clinton is not giving up the seat before she is confirmed as secretary of state.

After two New York Democrats said Kennedy and the governor are expected to meet privately to discuss the matter today, the governor's spokesman said they do not have a meeting planned.

Robert Kennedy Jr. said the family would come out en masse for her if she does get the appointment and has to run for election in 2010.

"If she runs, you will see more Kennedys than you have ever seen in your life," he said.

An environmental lawyer who took himself out of consideration for the Senate seat this week, Robert Kennedy said he is one of "many, many people" urging his cousin to seek the position.

Kennedy could instantly overshadow others whose names have been mentioned for the job, including state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

And she could satisfy those Democrats who have been urging the governor to find a replacement for Clinton with her kind of star power.

Feminist organizations have been mobilizing to lobby Paterson to choose a woman. On Thursday, the group Feminist Majority and the National Organization for Women endorsed Rep. Carolyn Maloney.

But Friday, Eleanor Smeal, president of Feminist Majority, said that if Kennedy wants the job, she would have to go back to her board to reconsider.

"I feel that her record is extremely strong. We know she gets things done," Smeal said of Maloney. "But there's no question we'll go back to the board. You're talking to someone who thinks Ted Kennedy is the most effective senator there."

The appointed senator would serve for two years and have to run in a special election in 2010, and then again in 2012.

Kennedy married Edwin Schlossberg in 1986. They have two daughters and a son.

She spent much of 2008 taking bigger steps onto the public stage. She made a splash by writing an op-ed column for The New York Times declaring her support for Obama, saying he had the potential to be as inspirational to Americans as her father was in the 1960s, and also spoke at the Democratic National Convention.

Edward Kennedy leaving Judiciary post

WASHINGTON — Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said Friday he is stepping down from his Senate Judiciary Committee post to focus on achieving a breakthrough on a health-care overhaul.

Kennedy, 76, who is fighting a malignant brain tumor, chairs the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and was a strong Obama backer during the 2008 campaign.

"I expect to lead a very full agenda in the next Congress, including working with President Obama to guarantee affordable health care, at long last, for every American," Kennedy said.

— The Associated Press