Reply #83: there may be capable, deserving candidates, but are they the strongest candidate? [View All]

[onenote]

There were deserving capable candidates within the NY state and congressional legislative bodies in 2000, particularly Nita Lowey. But the party leaders, correctly in my view, concluded that HRC, despite being an "outsider", would be the strongest candidate and provide NY with the most immediate impact in the Senate. As a result, Lowey and others were "persuaded" not to even mount a primary challenge to HRC. I supported that strategy then and I support Caroline Kennedy's bid for the appointment to the Senate now. Someone is going to be appointed and that person is going to have to run in a couple of years. If CK would likely be the strongest candidate statewide and have an immediate impact, a la HRC, because other members would want her to be campaigning for her, etc. etc, then I see no reason for her not to get it, even though there may be more "deserving" or "capable" (however one subjectively measures such qualities) legislators.