Caroline Kennedy last night withdrew from consideration to replace Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton – just two months after she rocked the New York political landscape by throwing her hat in the ring, The Post has learned.
“I informed Governor Paterson today that for personal reasons I am withdrawing my name from consideration for the United States Senate,” Kennedy said in a statement released hours after the Post first broke the story.
Kennedy’s move reshuffled the deck of contenders for Gov. Paterson, who will chose her replacement. The seat officially became vacant after Clinton was confirmed nearly unanimously by the Senate as secretary of state yesterday.
State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who has polled higher than Kennedy in public-opinion surveys, was seen as rising on the list of possible replacements.
Kennedy had been the apparent front-runner, with a slew of high-profile backers – including Mayor Bloomberg and, by some accounts, President Obama – and had been pushed strongly by her uncle, Sen. Ted Kennedy, sources said.
Late last night, The Associated Press reported that Kennedy had renewed “determination” to get the seat, after “wavering” on whether she should take on a new job when her uncle, who’s battling brain cancer, suffered a seizure shortly after Obama’s inauguration.
But no member of Kennedy’s team issued an official statement saying what her plans were, and aides couldn’t be reached for comment.
Paterson has said he is not yet sure who New York’s new senator will be, but he plans to announce his decision by this weekend. The press conference at which he’ll name his pick is expected Saturday in Albany.
On Tuesday, shortly after Obama was inaugurated, Paterson acknowledged for the first time he is considering Cuomo for the slot.
The attorney general has not said whether he’s interested in the job, but has not tamped down speculation that he’s making a play for it.
Kennedy’s decision caught even some close to her by surprise, and there were conflicting versions last night of what transpired.
Sources close to Kennedy said she had decided to bow out for “personal” reasons.
But others said she made her move after it became clear Paterson wasn’t going to pick her for the seat.
Several sources said the governor, who has sole power to replace Clinton, was unimpressed with the daughter of John F. Kennedy in media interviews and in private sessions with various officials.
Two sources said Paterson had conveyed to Kennedy on Tuesday that she wasn’t likely to get picked. Kennedy also was at Obama’s inauguration, but kept a low profile and was barely seen.
Paterson has offered conflicting comments about where he stands in the process – sometimes suggesting that he had made up his mind, sometimes that he hadn’t.
Several Democratic sources came away from the inauguration believing he was leaning toward Kennedy and she was his expected pick.
Kennedy’s entrance into the bidding for Clinton’s seat was intended to have the effect of clearing the field, forcing other contenders to see her as the inevitable choice for the seat once held by her uncle, Robert F. Kennedy.
Bloomberg privately backed her and publicly praised her abilities. His top deputy, Kevin Sheekey, worked the phones aggressively on Kennedy’s behalf, and set her up with powerhouse consulting firm KnickerbockerSKD.
But the rollout of her Senate bid received stiff criticism, as she ducked press questions during her first trip upstate and fared poorly in her initial round of media interviews. Several critics said the 51-year-old novice politician lacked a clear rationale for her candidacy.
The decision leaves a crowded field of about 15 people, mostly elected officials, vying to replace Clinton – including Cuomo, Rep. Steve Israel of Long Island, Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, upstate Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, Manhattan Rep. Carolyn Maloney and teachers union President Randi Weingarten.
Kennedy’s brief foray into politics lasted less than two months, starting when she said shortly before Christmas she was interested in the seat.
She had campaigned aggressively for the new president in 2008. Her endorsement infuriated Clinton’s loyalists.
Kennedy’s relationship with Obama was cited often by her boosters as an added value to New York if she had been picked.
Several sources said Obama was pulling for Kennedy as the choice, and Kennedy herself said the president had been “encouraging” about her pursuit of the post.