NAILED – AT 11:45 A.M. ET:  We have a senator from New York named Kirsten Gillibrand.  She got to the Senate by appointment, after Hillary Clinton resigned to become Obama's secretary of state. 

She was appointed by the then-governor, primarily to block the ambitions of Caroline Kennedy, daughter of President Kennedy.  The Democratic Party didn't want to open up another Kennedy power center, which would have diminished the influence of the Dem establishment.  Besides, Caroline Kennedy had difficulty completing an English sentence in public.

So Gillibrand was in, and she got elected to a full term.  And she's there.  And she could walk into any venue in New York, and no one would know who she is.  Ah, but according to a piece in Politico last week, her time has come...even for a run for the presidency.  Her issue always has been sexual harassment.  People, Politico said, are watching Kirsten.

Except, the increased attention has brought increased scrutiny.  And what many see, they don't like.  From The Hill: 

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) has put herself in the spotlight by calling on Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) to step down and saying President Clinton should have resigned during the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

Taking on major figures in her own party has bolstered the New York Democrat’s standing as a voice for change in the nation’s reckoning over sexual harassment and misconduct, which is reshaping society.

But it has also won her criticism. 

Supporters of Clinton blasted Gillibrand as disloyal for her statements about Clinton, with some noting how the Clintons supported her over the years. 

Those sympathetic to Franken suggested it was craven for her to be the first out with a statement Wednesday calling for him to resign, and suggested she was both seeking attention and building her brand on a fallen progressive hero.

Gillibrand has won headlines with her action that could be useful if she chooses to run for president in 2020 against what could be a crowded field. 

Others said the moves could actually hurt her in a primary, where loyalists to Clinton and Franken will have long memories.

“All this reeks of is political opportunism and that's what defines Kirsten Gillibrand's career,” one Democratic strategist said. “Why wasn't she talking about Bill Clinton when he was helping her during her various races for the House and Senate? And would she be talking about Bill Clinton today if Hillary Clinton was president? I think we all know the answer.”

COMMENT:  When you rise in politics, the knives start coming out.  Gillibrand has done strange things in the past, like embracing a Columbia student whose rape accusations were thoroughly discredited by two Columbia investigations, and also embracing a rabid anti-Israel activist, not too wise for a New York senator.  She wants street cred on the far left.

But most people aren't far left, and many Democrats don't appreciate her maneuvering.  Also, she's not known for having a giant intellect. Her greatest accomplishment was that her college roommate was the actress Connie Britton.

You can't write her off, but I think that, if the party wanted a woman as its candidate in 2020, it would choose Kamala Harris of California.  No genius either, but she's better at the political game, and she'd have the entire California delegation with her in a nomination fight. 

December 10,  2017