Bill or Mario May Fill In

The storm surrounding Caroline Kennedy’s shoo in as successor to Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat may lead to a big name compromise. Associated Press’s Michael Gormley has been told by those close to Governor David Paterson, who has sole right to pick New York’s new junior senator, that bold faced names like Bill Clinton and Mario Cuomo are being considered as a stop gap senator until an election takes place in 2010. If Paterson takes that option, it lets him off the hook with Caroline. "You can say to Caroline Kennedy, ‘You know, you'd make a good senator. Run for it.' And you can tell everyone else that it's a level playing field," explains political scientist Gerald Benjamin, dean at the State University of New York at New Paltz. Other caretaker names in the frame, retired top jurist Judith Kaye and former Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey, president of the New School in New York City.