ALBANY – Gov. Paterson hinted for the first time yesterday that he might not wait for next week’s presidential inauguration to name a replacement for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
“I’m at the point right now where it appears that Senator Clinton is going to – as I expected she would – float right through her confirmation,” Paterson told reporters at an Albany news conference. “So now, I see the duty to act.”
Candidates include Caroline Kennedy, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi and US Reps. Steve Israel of Long Island, Carolyn Maloney of Manhattan and Kirsten Gillibrand of Columbia County.
Meanwhile, more New Yorkers are questioning Kennedy’s qualifications for the post, according to a new Quinnipiac poll.
Some 48 percent of respondents said they thought the Kennedy heir didn’t have the chops to be in the Senate, compared with 41 percent in a similar poll last month.
She also trails Cuomo (24 percent to 31 percent) as voters’ pick for the seat. The poll has a margin of error of 2.4 percent.