Why would Paterson do that?

I think the real message here is that Paterson... isn't going to work out. The whole process was badly managed, incoherent, and gave the impression of flailing, both in glomming onto Kennedy while reasonable people raised flag after flag, and moving towards Gillibrand when other, longer serving Reps were pushing as well. This talk of "picking someone upstate is curious; Gillibrand has no presence in the city, and Dems don't build victories out of Buffalo and Rochester (and that's an assumption that Gillibrand, whose district is Alabany area, even seems that relatable to Western New York).

So on the one hand Gillibrand will be fine, and probably unspectacular, which for Schumer, certainly, would be a relief; but I doubt that this solves Paterson's problem of unifying his own party, showing real leadership savvy, or even finding the money needed to assure his and Gillibrand's election success. But I think this pick means many people didn't understand the really problematic nature of the Kennedy saga - that a Governor really in charge of the process would have minimized the Kennedy story until her selection was properly prepared for in the public media. That Paterson bollixed that, and her withdrawal, and the lurching to Gillibrand... says he's the problem here. Which I suspect is what State leaders are kind of telling themselves.

Things can change but currently this appointment infuriates me about Paterson. Weeks of thumb-twiddling for this?

1) Why Appoint someone from a Republican district so Dems will possibly lose that seat?
2) Why appoint a Democrat considerably to the right of the state as a whole in a time of badly needed Progressive reform?

At first glance, this seems totally bone-headed. She can prove me wrong but she'll have to shed the Blue Dog trappings and I kinda doubt anyone who would join that coalition is ever going to impress me too much.

It's a shame.

We're obviously all speculating about Paterson's political calculus. If you're not from New York, you're probably not giving the fact that Gillibrand's an upstater enough weight in the equation. As an upstater myself, it's gratifying to see a Democrat from north of the Tappan Zee Bridge holding statewide office, notwithstanding her politics.

In terms of NY State electoral politics, Paterson should have decided to emphasize geography over gender. I don't expect any sympathy for that viewpoint here. But he could have appointed Maurice Hinchey, who has the bad luck of being male but also happens to represent Ithaca, the Madison of New York, and is well to the left of most NYC-area House members.

Re: "Dems don't build victories out of Buffalo and Rochester." That attitude is exactly why the eminently beatable Jim Walsh got to run unopposed for reelection to the House in 2004, when, as Dan Maffei proved the next cycle, he was the very definition of a paper tiger.

Democratic victories will never be built out of Upstate New York until NYC Dems deign to let us try.

_Of course_ the calculus is to appoint an upstate woman. Part of Clinton's success in NY was the careful attention she paid to upstate. This is a continuation of that. Hinchey's out because he (and Ithaca) make Berkeley look like a red state (and I'm a native Ithacan). Gillibrand's guaranteed to hold that Senate seat *forever* and will help the Dems continue their reconquest of upstate NY.

Thanks go to Paterson for picking an actual woman of the people rather than a worthless, plutocratic, leftist automaton like Caroline Schissberg Kennedy. In some respects, Gillibrand is cut of the same cloth as Jon Tester of Mont. and Jim Webb of Va. Let’s have a more of these real-people Democrats rather than more of the same old Establishment tyrants who run the national party.

"In this light, Maloney, who isn't known for her legislative rigor, suddenly looks far more attractive. The New York City congresswoman is hardly the most prominent member of the House, but she has staked out a few issues that matter to her, among them LGBT rights and women's issues. Maloney is the sponsor, for example, of legislation that would extend family-medical leave rights to gay couples.

Thoughts on the developing situation in New York?"

All due, THIS is why a Blue Dog is taking the seat. Not that I have anything against Maloney, but Patterson was NEVER going to appoint her. Not because she's not qualified, but because she has a lot of seniority in the House, and because she chairs the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions, a fairly important post at the moment, and an important post to New York *anytime*. It was never going to happen, ever, but as best I can tell the progressive movement rallied around her.

So the lesson people ought to take out of this is that the netroots has an awful lot left to learn about politics. It was painfully obvious Patterson wanted to go with an upstate woman all along, and Gillibrand was the most obvious choice. The netroots should have taken the Kennedy opportunity to force Patterson into picking her and putting a liberal in the seat to vote. Instead they spent their time attacking the most liberal of the viable candidates in favor of someone who had as much chance of getting the seat as under-30-non-New Yorker me did.

Heckuva job.

Weboy, I live in upstate NY... There's a reason you don't build majorities upstate, and that's because they are extremely racist and sexist up here. They are not natural Democrats, they are natural Republicans.

But hey, you want to sacrifice both a seat in the senate AND a seat in the house to prove your little theory. You can win a district or two, but you aren't going to build majorities up here. It's not going to happen. Gillibrands base isn't Rochester and buffalo anyway; it's Schenectady and Saratoga

She is probably going to lose in 2010, either in the primary or the general, because she is going to cost us a lot of downstate voters. Seriously, how do you really expect to make up for the voters this is going to lose? For the liberals, and the downstate dems who just will never trust an upstate Dem who has spent years scapegoating NYC? For the hispanic community who Gillibrand has demagogued against for years? How is she going to do with the financial people in NYC after voting against the bailout?

Even if your 'lets base our political power in a cesspool of racism and very few Democrats' plan wasn't short sighted enough as it is, this is the worst Avatar for that idea you could have ever chosen. Patterson needs to lose, if he is this inept we're better off in the hands of a competent Republican than an idiot with no political skills and who thinks raising consumption taxes at the beginning of the worst Recession since the 30's is a great idea.

Clinton didn't have Gillibrand's baggage with NY voters. I thought she was an abom

Either she's changed her mind on LGBT issues, or somebody has something very wrong somewhere, at least according to Patrick Appel in a post today on Andrew Sullivan's blog. He says he was told by HRC that Gillibrand supports all the HRC issues the quote from Politicker NY says she opposes.

Ha ha ha. All the liberals that led the charge against Caroline Kennedy out of spite get rewarded with an appointment that will be one of the most conservative Democrats in the Senate. Ha ha ha.

Put this way...Andrew Cuomo, who will run against Paterson in 2010 and win, is going to have a press conference later today announcing the indictment of former NYSenate Leader Joseph Bruno on corruption charges. Bruno curiously slithered out of the NYSenate not long after Spitzer was dumped. There were rumors of a Bruno charge of some kind. Better to leave when you want instead of unceremoniously dumped in the trash. Anyway, Gillibrand's father has connections to Bruno. So we'll have the Paterson Circus trumped by the Cuomo Convictions. One looked sloppy and unprepared. The other will look cool, calm and in charge. Cuomo will be the next NY Gov, Carolyn McCarthy our next junior senator. Schumer better not push too hard for Kirsten...he'll be out the door with her 100% NRA rating. We've stopped wondering why Cuomo was a no show in downstate NY. Our state's next governor has serious business to attend to.

"Carolyn McCarthy our next junior senator. "

That's rather hilarious.

Carolyn McCarthy was a life long Republican until she ran as a Democrat against Dan Frissa in response to his opposition to the AWB (McCarthy's husband was killed on the LIRR). She didn't even *register* as a Democrat until either 2000 or 2002. The *only* reason she's even thinking about running is because Gillibrand got a 100% rating from the NRA, and McCarthy has an emotional investment in th gun control issue. So she might run, but she'd get absolutely crushed by Gillibrand in the Democratic primary.

there are currently two Republican and eight Democrats from upstate in the NY Congressional delegation.

In 2006 Spitzer lost three upstate counties, Clinton lost four and Cuomo won non NYC/LI by 270K votes. In the presidential election Obama-Biden won 60% of of upstate counties and received 547K more votes in non-NYC/LI counties than McCain-Palin. The Obama-Biden ticket won a a higher percentage of the vote in Erie and Genesee counties (62%) than it did in Nassau and Suffolk (56%).

Hinchey and Slaughter weren't interested in trading in powerful committee assignments and seniority in the House to be Senator 99. Higgins would have been better than Gillibrand on economic issues and was in a Dem lock seat.

Upstate will lose another seat after the 2010 census so maybe you can gerrymander away the 20th district.

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