Restoration?

The upcoming New York Senate vacancy is being viewed differently than it was when I wrote this post last month. Lately, all the talk has been about Caroline Kennedy. She recently got the word out that she's interested in the job.

She appears to be the front runner, if one can use that term for a position that, for an interim period at least, is not up for election. The New York Times sure seems to like her.

I don't remember seeing anyone put up this public a campaign for a gubernatorial appointment. I wonder whether it could backfire on her, if Governor David Paterson feels as though he's being railroaded into choosing her. But a dose of the Kennedy magic could help him with what is reportedly his major concern, which is putting together a strong Democratic ticket around himself, when he seeks a full gubernatorial term in 2010.

Am I reading too much into the Times story? They write that she's "trying to begin her political career near the top of the ladder", and that statewide New York politics "might prove a good training ground". For what? Higher office? Are they suggesting that she could achieve the "Camelot Restoration", i.e., her family's return to the White House, that none of her male relatives have been able to accomplish?

It seems a bit of a stretch for someone first getting into active political life at a somewhat advanced age (it would damage my ego to go so far as to label her "old", because she's a few months younger than me). But the world has always been fascinated by the women in that family, so perhaps some observers believe that voters would be willing to make one of their number the first female president.

And it's an interesting commentary on the degree to which Democratic Party politics is still a Kennedy family affair, that the man who is perhaps Kennedy's main rival for the Senate seat, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, was formerly married to Kennedy's cousin Kerry.