We Read it So You Don't Have To: NY Mag on Kirsten Gillibrand

It's been a rough few months for Kirsten Gillibrand, the new senator from New York who took the reigns of Hillary Clinton's old seat. There were the umpteen state and senate colleagues who looked at her appointment by governor David Paterson with awe, and not the good kind. A handful of lawmakers from the state felt snubbed by Patterson's curve ball choice. One New York rep used the term "mind numbing" to describe Gillibrand's ascension to the senate.

But six months in, she's trying desperately to turn things around and New York Magazine takes a good look at Gillibrand, revealing a fierce and complex woman. She runs at warp speed as the keeper of her own schedule -- public and private. Not to mention she's the only member of the U.S. Senate (although we can't be certain) who pumps breast milk for her toddler before heading to the capitol each morning.

On the policy front, Gillibrand ran into some hurdles in her early days as a senator, just a few months ago. Several highly publicized policy flops painted her as an amateur and an opportunist, trying only to position herself to hold onto her seat in 2010. What helped her wiggle out of the accusations was her senior senate-mate from New York, Chuck Schumer, who all but took Gillibrand under his wing when she arrived. "I had dinner with Chuck in New York last week,” she told NY Mag's Stephen Rodrick. “And Chuck told me what I was doing wrong. He told me what events I should have skipped and what ones I should have gone to. And I listened. He knows a lot."

The most interesting part of the profile comes about three-quarters down, when we learn how Paterson offered her the job. After more than a month of Caroline Kennedy being all the buzz, Paterson decided on Gillibrand and called her at 2 a.m. to congratulate her as "Madame Senator." Gillibrand thanked the governor, then immediately leaked the news to the NY Times before Paterson could change his mind.

Of course it could come crashing down for her in 2010. Gillibrand's got a long record, but in all the wrong areas. She had a stint with tobacco giant Philip Morris and has publicly admitted she, somewhat eerily, keeps not one but two guns under her bed. The writer quotes an unnamed political consultant saying that "the commercials write themselves. Big Tobacco. Immigration. Guns. It’s all there. And she has no record. She has no base of goodwill to build on.”

With all the money in the bank, she may not need a long record of benevolence. Gillibrand's big advantage -- and the primary reason NY Mag chose her to profile -- was her aptitude for fundraising. Gillibrand has amassed an impressive $2.3 million in the first quarter of 2009, which is pretty incredible for a freshman senator in a non-election year.

Maybe it's her freshness, maybe even some naivete, in a scene mostly dominated by older men. Or her mom-in-charge-who-also-has-time-to change-the-government image. The piece ends with a portrait of Gillibrand in action, encompassing both. When bidding farewell to the reporter, she gently grabs his arm to make sure the article will be okay. Then she cuts him off to remind herself (and perhaps him too) that really, she already knows things will work out.