Senator Gillibrand

[Purple State]

Good stuff. I wanted Suozzi over Gillibrand but she's fine. Certainly an improvement compared to Hillary and definitely better than people like Cuomo and Maloney. If Paterson picked Maloney, I would have been very disappointed. Plus, we're probably getting a House seat!

Not if i can help it.

No, hes right.  This seat is gone for Democrats NY without Gillibrand.

Fixed. The seat won't be there for long.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Good stuff. I wanted Suozzi over Gillibrand but she's fine. Certainly an improvement compared to Hillary and definitely better than people like Cuomo and Maloney. If Paterson picked Maloney, I would have been very disappointed. Plus, we're probably getting a House seat!

Not if i can help it.

No, hes right.  This seat is gone for Democrats without Gillibrand. 

The Senate seat is more of a loss. OK, some Republican replaces a worthless blue dogDemocrat in Congress. Big deal. Now, New York having a worthless blue dog in the Senate? That wil be a huge victory for the right-wingers.

She can't keep being a blue dog.  She'll moderate her positions to fit the state because she wants reelection.  She's already not claiming she's pro-gun so much as "pro-hunting."

What evidence do you have that she will suddenly stop sucking? She's a Blue Dog and 12 places away from the most right-wing House Democrat for reasons other than gun issues, you know. John Kerry was also pro-hunting.

[Lunar]

My evidence is that she wants to win reelection

[Purple State]

My evidence is that she wants to win reelection

Which is the same reason she was so conservative in Congress.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

My evidence is that she wants to win reelection

Democrats don't suddenly stop sucking.

[Lunar]

She'll still be more liberal now.

Apparently a bunch of people from her district are invited to the press conference tomorrow:
http://gawker.com/5137593/caroline-kennedys-job-stolen-by-overqualified-upstater

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

She'll still be more liberal now.

She had plenty of time to not suck so much in the House.

[Mr.Phips]

Good stuff. I wanted Suozzi over Gillibrand but she's fine. Certainly an improvement compared to Hillary and definitely better than people like Cuomo and Maloney. If Paterson picked Maloney, I would have been very disappointed. Plus, we're probably getting a House seat!

Not if i can help it.

No, hes right.  This seat is gone for Democrats NY without Gillibrand.

Fixed. The seat won't be there for long.

Thats true.  What Democrats will likely do is take the most Republican parts of the district and throw it in with NY-23 and giving them Dem leaning parts of NY-23(St. Lawrence and the border counties) to Arcuri in NY-24.  The Saratoga section of NY-20 as well as the Troy suburbs will likely go to Tonko in NY-21. 

[Lunar]

Good stuff. I wanted Suozzi over Gillibrand but she's fine. Certainly an improvement compared to Hillary and definitely better than people like Cuomo and Maloney. If Paterson picked Maloney, I would have been very disappointed. Plus, we're probably getting a House seat!

Not if i can help it.

No, hes right.  This seat is gone for Democrats NY without Gillibrand.

Fixed. The seat won't be there for long.

Thats true.  What Democrats will likely do is take the most Republican parts of the district and throw it in with NY-23 and giving them Dem leaning parts of NY-23(St. Lawrence and the border counties) to Arcuri in NY-24.  The Saratoga section of NY-20 as well as the Troy suburbs will likely go to Tonko in NY-21. 

From the guy who said she'd never be chosen because of Mrs. Pelosi

She'll still be more liberal now.

She had plenty of time to not suck so much in the House.

Are you really that dense, you're way too intelligent to repeatedly post so densely, right?  She votes to win reelection in a Republican district during the past 3 years, and now she'll vote to win reelection in a Democratic state.  This "plenty of time" occurred while she was trying to win reelection in a Republican district.  Do you see the logic?  Voting your constituency?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

She'll still be more liberal now.

Apparently a bunch of people from her district are invited to the press conference tomorrow:
http://gawker.com/5137593/caroline-kennedys-job-stolen-by-overqualified-upstater

Love the headline!

Caroline Kennedy's Job Stolen By Overqualified Upstater

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Good stuff. I wanted Suozzi over Gillibrand but she's fine. Certainly an improvement compared to Hillary and definitely better than people like Cuomo and Maloney. If Paterson picked Maloney, I would have been very disappointed. Plus, we're probably getting a House seat!

Not if i can help it.

No, hes right.  This seat is gone for Democrats NY without Gillibrand.

Fixed. The seat won't be there for long.

Thats true.  What Democrats will likely do is take the most Republican parts of the district and throw it in with NY-23 and giving them Dem leaning parts of NY-23(St. Lawrence and the border counties) to Arcuri in NY-24.  The Saratoga section of NY-20 as well as the Troy suburbs will likely go to Tonko in NY-21. 

From the guy who said she'd never be chosen because of Mrs. Pelosi

She'll still be more liberal now.

She had plenty of time to not suck so much in the House.

Are you really that dense, you're way too intelligent to repeatedly post so densely, right?  She votes to win reelection in a Republican district during the past 3 years, and now she'll vote to win reelection in a Democratic state.  This "plenty of time" occurred while she was trying to win reelection in a Republican district.  Do you see the logic?  Voting your constituency?

She was the 13th most conservative Democrat, and she was representing a district that Obama won. I mean, sure, she might move to the left a little, but she'll still suck.

[Ogre Mage]

If the choice is indeed Gillibrand, overall I think it is a pretty good pick.  She will bring geographic diversity as an upstate politician.  She is a strong fundraiser.  She's only 42, which means she could potentially hold the seat for a long time.  And I am glad to see Clinton succeeded by a qualified woman.

I do have some concern about Gillibrand's centrist record given that NY is well-designed for a liberal senator.  Her profile is a better fit for a swing state like OH or PA.  For her to be elected in her district, however, she had little choice except to run as a centrist.  The 20th Congressional District is a swing district leaning Republican.  Bush won her district 54%-46% in 2004 and 51%-44% in 2000.  Gillibrand surely realizes that running statewide in NY is an entirely different proposition.  She will need to successfully pivot to the left without looking like a crass sell-out.

A primary concern will be her ideas for revitalizing the state economically.  In an odd reversal, she may need to campaign downstate and spend time getting familiar with urban constituent concerns.  She will need to cultivate the support of minority and gay groups which I suspect she isn't too familiar with.  If she isn't already well-connected with AIPAC/the Jewish lobby, she better work on that quick.  Increasing her low name ID will be a challenge.  And while Gillibrand is more proven than Kennedy, she is still a relative newcomer, making the pick more risky than some other choices.  She might falter or she may be unwilling or unable to successfully rebrand herself for a statewide electorate.

Still, I am optimistic.  Gillibrand has proven herself a quick study so far and the combination of the Democratic advantage downstate and her base upstate could make her very formidable. 

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Gillibrand has an 87.56% Progressive Punch score. She's ranked as #166 in the most liberal House members, way more than 13 Democrats to the right of her.

And while some have been attacking her as being too pro-business, she has a 100% progressive score on Corporate Subsidies, 100% on Labor Rights and 97.14% on Government Checks on Corporate Power.

I'm fine with her.

[Lunar]

Oh, that's interesting.

What's we're is Drudge still hasn't run this story, while HuffPost and tons of other outlets headline it with exclamation marks.  Not only is there no mention of Gillibrand, Drudge is only escalating the number of stories about Caroline.  I guess he doesn't want his readers to know a more moderate Democrat might have been selected until the last minute.

[Lunar]

Yet Drudge falsified a report that a moderate, Evan Bayh, was Obama's VP and center-headlined the story over an image of an awfully made obviously unofficial bumpstersticker on the internet that said Obama/Bayh 08.

[Bacon King]

Do people still take Drudge seriously? Really?

[Lunar]

Do people still take Drudge seriously? Really?

I can't figure out why he would want to lag behind on this story, I guess just a fixation on Caroline.  At the very least he could be like "CAROLINE REJECTED" with an image of Kirsten

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Gillibrand has an 87.56% Progressive Punch score. She's ranked as #166 in the most liberal House members, way more than 13 Democrats to the right of her.

And while some have been attacking her as being too pro-business, she has a 100% progressive score on Corporate Subsidies, 100% on Labor Rights and 97.14% on Government Checks on Corporate Power.

I'm fine with her.

Her "chips are down" score is only 52.51, placing her to the right of the likes of Tanner, Marshall, and so on. Voteview ranks her about 20th most conservative Democrat in the House or Senate. She's more right-wing than the average Blue Dog. Maybe if we were talking about Senator from Utah, she'd be a good choice, but this is Senator from New York.

[Lunar]

Gillibrand hasd a poor record on homos

corrected for future reference

[Joe Biden 2020]

Sounds like a good pick.  Now, who replaces her in the House?  (What district did she represent?)

[JohnnyLongtorso]

The supposedly anti-gay Gillibrand voted for ENDA and to expand hate crime legislation to include sexual orientation.

I'm of two minds on this whole thing. On the one hand, I don't want to see Republicans crowing about a special election victory. On the other hand, I'm glad the Democratic blogs have their panties in a twist over this, because I get tired of their obsessing and micro-analyzing of every single thing Dems do. I think Gillibrand will be a mainstream Democrat in the Senate. So she's pro-gun, who cares? The Democrats gave up on that issue years ago.

[Beet]

Wow, this is a miracle. So Paterson didn't just go based on hype and polls but actually looked at some qualified people. It also shows Paterson was serious with what he was saying about looking at all the candidates. I was sure it was going to be CK.

This is a great pick for several reasons already noted- her excellent constituency relations, vote getting ability and fundraising ability, if she can keep it up, will help her from keeping the seat competitive in 2010, and it is time there was a Senator from upstate. Gillibrand is a little more conservative than Clinton but otherwise fits her shoes quite well and the two had good relations. I'm a little concerned about some of her positions (but not on guns or immigrations), but I believe she'll be more liberal as Senator. It's a very gutsy pick but I think the right one. Time will tell.

[Brittain33]

The Senate is so close to evenly divided, that the truly safe thing would be an Assemblyman. No one cares whether an Assembly seat flips.

Republican State Senators see the writing on the wall. They're not getting their majority back and so they will run for this seat.

[Lief 🗽]

If Gilibrand doesn't vote like a liberal Democrat, she'll be primaried by someone from NYC and lose because most of the Democratic primary voters are in NYC. It's really simple as that.

And Lunar, Drudge is horrible and I don't know why anyone would read him over HuffPost or something.

[Josh/Devilman88]

Well, at least he replaced a women with another women.