Anyone thinking New Yorkers will trade down when Hilary's Senate seat gets back-filled just doesn't understand the Empire State's affinity for high profilers in high positions.

According to the NY Times this afternoon, Caroline Kennedy is seriously interested in replacing Hilary Clinton as junior senator from New York when Ms. Clinton assumes her position as Secretary of State in January. "I know she's interested", said Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., told the AP in a telephone interview Friday. ''She spent a lot of her life balancing public service with obligations to her family. Now her children are grown, and she is ready to move onto a bigger stage.''

The decision to replace Hilary is New York Governor David Patterson's, but few families can muster as much influence on a fellow Democrat as the Kennedys, as near as we have in the US to a royal family. The seat, once held by Caroline's uncle Robert F. Kennedy until his assassination in 1968, is up for election in 2010 and if Caroline is selected and then chooses to run for reelection, Robert Kennedy said: "You will see more Kennedys than you ever have in your life."