Caroline Kennedy, the first daughter of Camelot, has decided to seek Hillary Rodham Clinton’s U.S. Senate seat – a decision that rocks the landscape of the race to be appointed to succeed the outgoing senator.
“She has decided she wants the Senate seat,” a source close to Kennedy told The Post.
She called Gov. Paterson today to let him know.
The move makes official what some Kennedy family members had been urging her to do for weeks.
Kennedy has already signed up powerhouse consulting firm Knickerbocker SKD, which advises Mayor Bloomberg – who sang her praises recently as a qualified candidate.
The firm is run by Josh Isay, Sen. Charles Schumer’s former campaign manager, and several sources said the move suggests Kennedy has the mayor’s tacit support for her candidacy.
Sources said she had already begun calling leading New York political and business figures, including some who have indicated they’d like to be considered by Gov. Paterson, to tell them she would be seeking the Senate seat.
Among those who said he got a call was the Rev. Al Sharpton, who said she called him Monday afternoon.
“I feel compelled to state that I unequivocally disagree with those that say she is not qualified and could not bring needed leadership to this state and country,” said Sharpton, adding that her work on behalf of education issues and her “civic involvement more than qualifies hr to be senator.”
He also said he invited her to have a meal with him at Sylvia’s in Harlem.
Kennedy also called City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, U.S. Rep. Louise Slaughter of Rochester, and Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons, the source said.
Some critics – including some who had backed Clinton in the presidential primaries – have publicly questioned her qualifications, which has become a major source of discussion since word of her possible interest first emerged.
If tapped, Kennedy – who was a major backer of then-Sen. Barack Obama during his primary battle against Clinton – would assume the seat her uncle, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., once held.
Several sources said her family had been encouraging her to pursue the seat for awhile and the discussions had been going on for several weeks.
President-elect Obama roiled New York politics when he tapped Clinton as his secretary-of-state recently.
A number of seat-seekers and potential candidates to be named have emerged, including Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who was married to Kennedy’s cousin, Kerry Kennedy.
Kennedy first telegraphed her potential interest in the seat about two weeks ago.
She also called Paterson, who has sole power to name Clinton’s successor, on Dec. 3, but the governor said she didn’t directly say she wanted to be considered.