KEY POINTS:
NEW YORK - The torch of the "first family" of American politics may be about to pass to Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the assassinated JFK, who has emerged as the leading contender for the Senate seat being vacated by Hillary Clinton.
The 51-year-old lawyer and author had shown so little interest in formal politics it had seemed the Kennedys' influence on the national scene would fade with Ted Kennedy, the "lion of the Senate", who was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer earlier this year. And Caroline Kennedy's own endorsement of Barack Obama for the presidency - which ripped the sense of inevitability from the Clinton campaign - had been seen as entrusting the legacy of her father to a new name.
Except that Caroline Kennedy then threw herself into campaigning for Obama, traversing the country to pep up volunteers and winning rave reviews for her oratory - all despite a reputation for being painfully shy.
She was later seconded to the panel advising on Obama's vice-presidential selection. Now she has begun considering whether to press for appointment to the New York Senate seat once held by her uncle, Robert F Kennedy.
David Paterson, the state Governor, will have to make the selection if Clinton is confirmed as Secretary of State, and he and Kennedy had an "informational" conversation on the subject last week. Whoever he appoints will serve until the next round of elections in 2010.
- INDEPENDENT
