People compare this to Hillary's run. Well, I agree. And Hillary Clinton, who had never lived in New York, and had little experience in politics, shouldn't have been eligable, either. In fact, she didn't do interviews or put herself on the line. She acted as if it was owed to her, and it wasn't.

There's one big difference.

She was elected by the people.

If Caroline Kennedy wants to run in a general election and wins, she clearly has every right to the office. The people have the right to elect her if they want her.

But for the governor to appoint her above people with more experience and more know-how, because Kennedy's always get what they ask for, is digusting.

So if the people of New York want this woman to represent them, they can do so in the next general election. Until then, she should not be granted such a large political favor.

Does it not trouble any of those who have spoken in favor of Kennedy that she has decided, for the first time in her life, to actively pursue elected office at precisely the moment she won't have to actually get elected?

I'm not a New Yorker, and not terribly concerned about the issues of her qualifications. I love Ted Kennedy and so I too understand the desire to make sure there's a Kennedy of some kind (and, really, is there another reasonable candidate?) in the Senate for many decades in the future. But the whole method she employs is anti-democratic, feudal and rather unseemly.

Already a number of prominent New Yorkers, (Mahoney and Nita Lowey among them) have had to step aside to make room for Hillary Clinton. Now they must be asked to step aside for Caroline?

It's time, I should think, to give a chance to one of those men or women who rose in politics the hard, fair and democratic way. Many posters here compare Mr. Schone's dismissal of her qualifications as similar to attacks on Obama, but it seems to me quite the opposite. Obama, too, worked his way up the ladder. And if he did so rather quickly, all the more power to him. Caroline is asking Governor Paterson to carry her up the ladder on his shoulders. And if I were him, I wouldn't do it.

If Paterson does give the position to Kennedy, how is it so very different from Governor Blagojevich's scheme? Of course, it would be perfectly legal and ethical in the normal political sense. Nothing would be explicitly exchanged. But why would Paterson appoint her? Could it be that she is an experienced fund-raiser with a mythic name and a bulging Rolodex, just like "Candidate Number 5"? If voters truly want someone "without taint", they should encourage the governor not to pick someone with so many obvious advantages to his own political career. Of course, in the business of appointing US Senators, no one is entirely free of taint. If Kennedy is passed over, it may well turn out to be the product of Chuck Schumer's resistance to being, once again, overshadowed by his junior partner. And the muscle Schumer has to flex is, naturally, fundraising acumen and political clout that would serve Paterson well in 2010.

We are still nominally living in a democracy, right? At least we've been paying lip service to one. This just smacks of the concept of hereditary nobility that America is supposed to revile. Didn't Glenn Greenwald just post something last week saying that 18% of elected federal officials had some form political legacy supporting them?

If Kennedy wants to be in an elected office, let her be elected to it. Remember how angry we were when the Supreme Court decided in Bush v. Gore to appoint W. to the position of president rather than listening to what the voters of Florida had decided? How it felt like we were living in a Banana Republic, where the son of the former president gets to disregard the voters from a state where his brother was governor because of a slim judicial majority decided partially by appointees that his father had made to the court? That's not what democracy is supposed to be about. Let's not make the same mistake again.

Give the post to someone (like Maloney, for example) who has actually been elected by the voters. Let the culture of celebrity stick to the cover of US Weekly, and stay out of federal politics.

As long as I can remember, the Democrats have been talking about the Camelot torch. When Teddy ran back in 1980, there was a palpable sense that the torch would be re-lit, and only the memory of the drowning incident managed to overcome it. When John Jr. died, it seemed like the torch might finally be extinguished, but when Caroline emerged this year, it was clear it had not.

Camelot is more than about building bridges and dams, like LBJ. It is about . . . well, whatever it is about. And whatever that is, Caroline has it, and no one else does. Not even the nieces and nephews. The vast majority of the country believes JFK is our greatest president ever, by a long-shot. And they're right, if by "great" you mean, well . . . generally regarded as great.

Personally, I prefer bridges and dams -- or low taxes instead of bridges and dams -- anything, really, involving the presence or absence of a bridge or a dam, to Camelot (which really is an awful musical). But I'm just an interloper here, trying to be helpful. There will always be hard working politicians being stepped over by the likes of Caroline Kennedy. I think you should accept it, and get your Kennedy game faces on for the next phase of Camelot.

How is Caroline Kennedy's situation any different than that of Hillary Clinton's nine years ago? Yes, there are other qualified candidates. (One would certainly hope so.) And some of those qualifications would apparently trump some of those of this candidate. (Just as this was so nine years ago.)

None of this makes Kennedy unqualified for the seat. Neither does it necessarily make the other candidates "better options". To the extent that any of this sentiment is left over from the presidential campaign (I mean, let's not be naive here), Senator Clinton, to her credit, has moved on. It's well past time her supporters did too.

As for Caroline Kennedy becoming Senator Kennedy? I'd be proud to have her as my senator--just as I would were one of several other candidates chosen. A life in public service counts for a lot--even if it's not played in the glare of the klieg lights.