Hometown News: Caroline Kennedy in Buffalo

Caroline Kennedy was in Buffalo as Mayor Brown's guest this afternoon, and expressed her interest in Hillary Clinton's U.S. Senate seat. The visit to City Hall was part of a whirlwind upstate tour today including Syracuse and Rochester.

HTN: Caroline for Senate?

Several media reports state that Caroline Kennedy has spoken with Governor David Paterson about taking over Hillary Clinton's seat in the U.S. Senate. In recent years, JFK's daughter has been active in New York City educational causes. She also played an advisory role in Barack Obama's campaign, working on the team that advised Obama on his vice-presidential choice. The President-elect has not commented on the idea of Ms. Kennedy filling Ms. Clinton's seat. Obama told NBC's "Meet the Press," quote, "The last thing I want to do is get involved in New York politics." He did call Kennedy one of his dearest friends.

Mayor Brown in the Running for US Senate

A recent online poll shows Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown is fifth in the running among New Yorkers as a possible U.S. Senate replacement for Hillary Clinton. If Brown had six-percent of the vote yesterday afternoon in the online poll conducted by Albany-based newspaper the "Business Review." The newspaper reports that Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is the frontrunner in their poll, followed by Congresswoman Kirsten Gillbrand, Caroline Kennedy, environmentalist Robert Kennedy Jr., Mayor Brown, Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, and Congresswoman Nita Lowey.

Dems Back Powers for Congress

Len Lenihan and the Erie County Democratic Committee have decided to back Iraq war veteran Jon Powers of Clarence to run for Republican Tom Reynolds seat... not Jack Davis, who ran against Reynolds twice and lost. Davis still wants to run again, which sets up a a September primary between Powers, Davis and local attorney Alice Kryzan.

Slaughter Will Run Again

Congresswoman Louise Slaughter has told the news media that she plans to run for a 12th term in Congress. She's currently the chairwoman of the House Rules Committee.