Caroline Kennedy is interested in the Senate seat that would open once Hillary Rodham Clinton becomes secretary of state, said a relative who says the Kennedy clan is fully behind her rising to the office once held by her uncle.
"I know she's interested," Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Friday. "She spent a lot of her life balancing public service with obligations to her family. Now her children are grown, and she is ready to move onto a bigger stage."
Once Clinton is confirmed, New York Gov. David Paterson will appoint someone to fill the seat for two years.
Robert Kennedy said the family would come out en masse for her if she does get the appointment and has to run for election in 2010. "If she runs, you will see more Kennedys than you have ever seen in your life," he said.
Robert Kennedy, who took himself out of consideration for the post this week, also offered a policy rationale for her in the role: education.
"She's probably one of the leading advocates in the nation on public education. She feels a lot of the issues she's worked on are in danger ... because of the economic crisis," he said.
Democrats said Caroline Kennedy and Paterson have already spoken about the seat. The governor's spokesman denied that the two are to meet today about it.
Kennedy is the daughter of President John F. Kennedy and a niece of brothers Edward and Robert, who held the New York seat from 1965 until his assassination in 1968. Kennedy is the kind of high-profile, historic figure who could overshadow many other New York politicians hoping to be selected. However, as famous as she is, she always has been viewed as almost painfully shy.
