ALBANY – So they’ve cut a deal in case a replacement is needed for Hillary Rodham Clinton?
That’s the way it looked to a lot of insiders, with Gov. Paterson and Sen. Charles Schumer – not normally the best of friends – beaming and embracing Wednesday night at a dinner to commemorate the naming of the Triborough Bridge for Robert F. Kennedy.
The giant-egoed Schumer has a lot riding on the governor’s choice – should President-elect Barack Obama name Clinton secretary of state – since he has long suffered under the shadow of New York’s junior senator, who has superstar quality as the former first lady.
Schumer spokesman Josh Vlasto wouldn’t say what recommendations his boss has made to Paterson, but others were talking.
“Chuck clearly wants a ‘junior’ senator who really is junior,” said a prominent Democrat who has known Schumer for more than 10 years.
“Chuck wants the least amount of competition. He’s been living with a junior senator who has overshadowed him for the past eight years.”
Other knowledgeable Democrats said the one person who Schumer doesn’t want to replace Clinton is New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who would be at least as aggressive politically – as incredible as that might sound – as Schumer himself.
A Marist poll earlier this week found that Cuomo was the overwhelming choice of voters to succeed Clinton.
One knowledgeable Democrat said Schumer wants to replace Clinton with “someone from upstate who no one ever heard of and who he would never have to worry about.”
Among those who would fit that profile: Democratic Reps. Kirsten Gillibrand of Hudson and Brian Higgins of Buffalo.
Paterson, who was embarrassed last summer at the Democratic National Convention in Denver when Schumer “forgot” to introduce him at a breakfast, insists he hasn’t made up his mind on a Clinton replacement.
Meanwhile, an aide to Obama’s transition team says the president-elect is on track to nominate Clinton as secretary of state after Thanksgiving.
A week after Obama and Clinton met secretly to discuss the possibility of her becoming the nation’s top diplomat, the sides are moving quickly toward making it a reality, The Associated Press reported.
The transition aide said the two sides have worked out financial-disclosure issues that involved Bill Clinton and the complicated international funding of his foundation, which operates in 27 nations.
The aide said the two have had substantive conversations about the post.