Nov 19, 2008 8:06 pm US/Eastern
N.Y. Pols Lining Up For Hillary's Senate Gig
Though Nobody Wants To Talk About Desire To Be U.S. Senator, List Of Potential Replacements Distinguished
WASHINGTON (AP) ―
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Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) kiss before boarding Obama's campaign plane at Reagan National Airport June 27, 2008 in Washington, DC.
Mario Tama/Getty Images
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Barack Obama, seen here on Jan. 5, 2007, before being elected president, approaches the media after a meeting with President Bush at the White House in Washington, D.C.
Mannie Garcia/AFP/Getty Images
Don't talk about Fight Club, they said once in a movie. In New York politics these days, don't talk about taking Hillary Rodham Clinton's job.
As expectations continue to rise that Clinton will leave her Senate seat to become President-elect Barack Obama's Secretary of State, a trio of New Yorkers were tight-lipped Wednesday about their chances to succeed.
"It's not wise to speculate," said Rep. Brian Higgins, of Buffalo.
"It's premature," said Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-Hudson.
"It's too early," said Rep. Nita Lowey, D-Harrison.
Maybe so, but as Yogi Berra once said, it gets late early.
Hour by hour, it seems, more people in the nation's capital expect Clinton to be nominated to become Secretary of State, leaving a plum political opening to be appointed by New York's governor, David Paterson.
If Clinton does leave, Paterson's choice would hold the seat until 2010, when a special election would be held to serve out the two remaining years on Clinton's term. Clinton ran for re-election in 2006, just before launching her ultimately unsuccessful White House bid.
Other names that have been bandied about in recent days include Rep. Nydia Velazquez, a Brooklyn lawmaker who just became chairwoman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Long Island's Tom Suozzi or Rep. Steve Israel, New York City's Carolyn Maloney or Jerrold Nadler, and Andrew Cuomo, the state's attorney general.
Unlike many of New York's congressional delegation, Velazquez did not appear for a press conference with New York Gov. David Paterson Wednesday.
Those who did were still not talking about Clinton's job.
"It's a hypothetical right now, I think it's just too early," said Lowey, the elder stateswoman among those in the running.
Lowey was expected to run for the Senate in 2000, until Clinton moved in. Now, it may be too late for the 71-year-old lawmaker with powerful seniority in the House of Representatives.
Some upstate politicians who want to see more representation of their region are pushing Higgins, though he has only served two terms in Congress.
"Senator Clinton has been an extraordinary senator for New York and everybody wants her to stay. In the event that she is offered Secretary of State and she accepts, then the issue of succession becomes relevant but it's really not right now," he said.
"My purpose is to represent western New York and the upstate region and that's what I've tried to do in my short time in Congress here and we've made some good progress," Higgins said.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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