Washington/New York - Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of
slain president John F Kennedy, has withdrawn her bid for the New
York Senate seat that is now empty, the Buffalo Business First
newspaper reported Thursday online.
The seat became vacant Wednesday when the US Senate confirmed
former senator Hillary Clinton as the new secretary of state in US
President Barack Obama's new administration.
Clinton resigned her senate seat and was also sworn shortly after
the vote.
'I informed (Governor David) Paterson today that for personal
reasons I am withdrawing my name from consideration for the United
States Senate,' Kennedy said in a brief statement.
Kennedy, 51, whose life has been led mostly behind the scenes, had
stirred excitement with her open interest and even campaigning for
the seat.
But she was criticized for her lack of political experience.
Caroline and her uncle, Senator Ted Kennedy, 76, played a key role
in Obama's bid for the Democratic Party presidential nomination by
denying their support to Clinton, who had been close to the storied
family, and instead backing Obama.
Caroline Kennedy is the oldest surviving member of the former
president's family, having lost him to the assassination, her mother
Jackie to cancer and her brother, John, to an airplane accident. She
has three children.
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