photo by vgm8383 The Capitol Building in Washington

Politics in this day in age is in some ways a family business, and in many cases it depends on people knowing your name. That's an interesting thing to me, a fascinating nuance. I have a question: Do Americans realize that electoral politics in America is dynastic in nature? If you look closely at it, there will be between 12 and 15 brothers, sons or daughters of politicians, possibly going to run for some form of office in 2010. There's no question that there is an affinity there for politicians' kids. You see it in plenty of states on the senatorial and gubernatorial level. In Pennsylvania there's Senator Bob Casey son of the very popular former governor. But it is not just places where these families are really popular where you see this happening. It is happening in places like Iowa with Governor Chet Culver, and Indiana with Senator Evan Bayh, where you have senators who were repudiated by the voters, to then have their sons come along and get elected and become much more popular than their fathers were. Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd's father Tom Dodd was censured by the U.S. Senate. Edmund "Pat" Brown was kicked out of the governor's office in California by Ronald Reagan. His son, Jerry Brown then came back and won a couple terms. The sons and daughters seem to learn the lessons from their parents while striving not to make the same mistakes their parents made. The sons of Birch Bayh, John Culver and Hugh Gregg in New Hampshire, may actually eclipse their fathers in terms of political skills, because they saw what their fathers did that wound up getting them to lose, and perhaps went a different way. Is there any question that Evan Bayh is probably the most popular politician in Indiana? Could it be the opposite manifestation of buyer's remorse? Is it voters wanting to bring redemption to the family by putting the offspring of the old man you knocked out into the chair? George W. Bush, in many ways, saw his campaign for president as a way to redeem his father's presidency and subsequent loss to Bill Clinton. As it turns out, even though the Jr. Bush won the second term that his father did not, he will have utterly failed at that redemption by being such a controversial Commander-in-Chief. The New York senate vacancy, caused by Hillary Clinton’s nomination and presumed confirmation as Secretary of State, is intriguing. The interest of Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the late President John F. Kennedy, has ruffled feathers by those who believe she has not “paid her dues” to be considered and lacks the credentials to serve. That, and in addition to the fact that she has never been apart of the political process until this year, actively campaigning for President-elect Barack Obama, has led to a resistance from people outside of media circles. There are also those who point out that she hasn't run for office before. She hasn't toiled in the trenches, while many of these other potential legacy candidates like John Salazar, who might get his brother's Ken's seat in Colorado. Or even Jesse Jackson, Jr. or Lisa Madigan in Illinois. Andrew Cuomo, who was once married to a Kennedy, worked at his father Mario's side when he was Governor of New York and handled politics for him. Lots of these legacy folks worked at their parents' side. They did work meeting with constituents. They ran meetings. They organized things. They understood politics or they ran for local office. So, having a name like Kennedy or Cuomo, for example, Andrew Cuomo, son of the former governor of the state and currently the New York state Attorney General, who is still mentioned as a possible Senate appointment in New York. I disagree with those arguments. There are plenty of examples of individuals who have gone to the head of the line without winding their way upward through lower elected offices and are now serving with distinction in the Senate. Likewise, Ms. Kennedy is obviously intelligent and capable of holding her own as a United States Senator. Moreover, no one can deny the strong sentimental pull of her candidacy given many of our memories of the tragedy in Dallas that left her fatherless, and the nation in mourning, and the tragic loss of her uncle, New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy; who met the same fate as her father. That could be an underlying reason why people like the idea of Caroline Kennedy replacing Hillary Clinton as the Jr. Senator of New York. That and the regard generally given to the whole family. Americans have watched Caroline Kennedy from the time she was a kid Americans have been watching her with cameras running or clicking since she was one. They watched her during the tragic funeral of her dad after he was killed as president; watched her grow up. In this country, where we citizens are deeply suspicious of politicians, we don't usually vote for people we've never heard of. In Caroline Kennedy's case, there appears a comfort in her simply growing into adulthood in the public eye and not doing anything wrong. We know that because she has been followed closely throughout her life. What we do not know about is her views and how they translate to the people she will be representing. There are new stories revealing how she has not even voted in some recent New York elections, and her detractors have said this makes her unqualified for the position, despite endorsements from Democrats and Republicans alike. But what concerns me more is that in the case of the New York vacancy is that some qualified members of the current congressional delegation or other prominent elected officials from the state will be overlooked. Also in an age of unity that the incoming presidential administration is promoting, perhaps there is a Republican who is more in tuned to the matters of the state, that may be more qualified to hold the position for two years until the election. There is also the conventional wisdom that as an African-American governor, David Paterson, can’t appoint a minority to the Senate particularly when a minority is also is poised to become the state Senate Majority Leader. But why not? For decades White elected officials have held all of the top offices in the vertical chain of government – Senate, Governor and state Attorney General – and there were never any qualms about the racial composition of the offices or the fact that in some instances Whites had appointed other Whites. Now that there is a Black governor, the “rules of the game” have been tossed aside. Governor Paterson is now being subtly reminded that he “can’t go Black” for fear of offending White voters, particularly those in upstate New York. That presumably would not bode well for him if he were to actually run for a full gubernatorial term in 2010. The excuse that is often put forth is that the candidate must be able to raise money, say $70 million for a senate run in 2012, and appeal to voters upstate. I contend, that if the state Democratic Party and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) would stand behind a minority statewide candidate, those issues would be moot. However, if the candidate is treated in the manner that Carl McCall was during his run several years ago, when then DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe all but doomed his candidacy by killing fund raising weeks prior to the election, the individual is certain to lose. So, even though in a state that has long-serving minority members of Congress and the state legislature, who could serve the state well in the Senate and bring a new perspective to issues, these individuals are summarily out of the running because of the subtle barrier of race and the large barrier of legacy. I wouldn't say that Caroline Kennedy being appointed to the Senate seat is a sure bet, only because it's David Paterson's decision and people who know David Paterson well, maintain that he is an unpredictable guy, who does not like his hand forced. But it's hard to resist the Kennedy legacy on the Democratic side. Probable in both cases. An interesting side note about New York is that Governor David Paterson is the son of Basil Paterson, the former New York secretary of state and deputy mayor of New York City under Ed Koch. More legacy at work.