VIDEO: CQ Politics analyzes Kirsten Gillibrand’s Senate appointment . Click here to watch

The vacancy had been pending since now-Presidnet Obama’s decision, shortly after his Nov. 4 election, to choose Clinton as his secretary of State.

Kennedy was regarded through much of the period as a shoo-in for the appointment.

Her flirtation with the seat, which drew most of the media attention during Paterson’s selection process, ended abrubtly when Kennedy informed Paterson that she was stepping aside, the same day that Clinton’s State Department nomination was confirmed.

Momentum then quickly built behind Gillibrand, who drew strong support from those who contended that another woman should succeed Clinton and those who argued that someone from upstate should be chosen to end that region’s long Senate drought.

Paterson passed over more widely known downstate politicians such as state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, and veteran lawmakers such as Reps. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York City and Steve Israel of Long Island.

Instead, he opted for a young, energetic politician and campaigner, who in her two House victories showed strong political appeal to women voters, suburbanites and upstate residents, and political moderates. She has also established herself as an accomplished fundraiser, a key asset when it comes to defendi the seat.

Paterson’s Considerations

During the selection process, Paterson repeatedly said he wanted an appointee capable of defending the seat in the special election.

Paterson — who became governor last year after a sex scandal forced Democratic incumbent Eliot Spitzer to resign — is up for election on the same ballot in 2010, and Gillibrand’s addition to the ticket will help provide demographic balance to a Democratic slate dominated by downstate men.

Paterson said his decision was based on merit, not gender, geographic location, race or religion. But Democrat Charles E. Schumer , New York’s other senator and a Gillibrand backer, said Gillibrand’s gender and upstate residency were assets. “Governor, the bottom line is, with this choice, you hit the nail on the head,” said Schumer.

“I think it’s a good appointment,” said Leonard Lenihan, the Democratic chairman in Erie County, which includes Buffalo. “As an upstate chairman, we were certainly interested  . . .  in having someone from the upstate power structure” as the appointee.

Although Lenihan had advocated third-term Democratic Rep. Brian Higgins of the Buffalo-based 27th District, he said Gillibrand is in touch with the needs of upstate residents. “Her district,” like much of the upstate region, “is also hit hard by the flight of industry,” Lenihan said.

Among others lauding the appointment of Gillibrand was Ellen Malcolm, president of EMILY’s List, a powerful advocate group for abortion rights supporters. “In Congress, Gillibrand has been a leader for women and families,” Malcolm said in a statement. “We look forward to her continued leadership for the people of New York and women across the country.”

But not everyone in Democratic circles was happy with Paterson’s selection of a new senator whose overall voting record marks her as a party loyalty, but whose stands on a few issues — particularly gun control and fiscal matters — place her somewhat to the right of many fellow Democratic lawmakers from New York.

Even before the appointment became official, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy of Long Island’s 4th District warned she would enter the 2010 Democratic special election primary because of Gillibrand’s support for gun owners’ rights and support from the National Rifle Association.

Gun control is a signature issue for McCarthy, who first ran for Congress in 1996 after her husband was killed and son critically wounded three years earlier by a deranged gunmen on a Long Island Rail Road commuter train. Gillibrand, who represents voters from largely exurban and rural areas that is home to many hunters, was one of 85 House Democrats who voted in 2007 to repeal a gun ownership ban in Washington, D.C.

Gillibrand made an overt effort to reach out to McCarthy during her appointment statement, praising her effort to reduce gun violence and pledging to work with her on legislation to tighten laws requiring background checks prior to firearms purchases. But McCarthy was not immediately assuaged, telling CQ Politics Friday afternoon, “I just think it was a bad choice. I think there were many members certainly from the House of Representatives or the state Senate  . . .  that certainly could have filled the bill.”

Gillibrand is a member of the Blue Dogs, a coalition of fiscally conservative House Democrats. Last fall, she voted against the $750 billion measure to shore up the nation’s stumbling financial sector on fiscal grounds, even though the New York economy has been badly hit by the sharp downturn on Wall Street.

She has toed the party line on most other issues, voting with the Democratic leadership 90 percent of the time in her one full House term.

Defending the Seat

In addition to a possible primary challenge, Gillibrand is also likely to face stiff competition from Republicans in 2010. Rep. Peter T. King , an eight-term Republican from Long Island’s 3rd District, has already stated he will run for the seat. Rudolph Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and contender for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, is also being mentioned as a possible candidate.

The Republican Party, which has fallen far into minority-party status in Democratic-dominated New York over recent years, is already testing out attack lines.

“Governor Paterson’s choice of a relatively unknown and inexperienced individual in a field of far more experienced candidates whose political leanings are more closely aligned with the New York Democrat Party is an interesting one,” said Brian Walsh, communications director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the Senate GOP campaign arm.

Gillibrand acknowledged Friday that she will have her work cut out for her to win over state voters beyond her home base. “I realize that for many New Yorkers this is the first time you have heard my name and you don’t know much about me,” she said. “Over these next two years, you will get to know me, and more importantly, I will get to know you.”

The Public Policy Polling (PPP) firm, in an early December survey, found that 69 percent of New York Democratic respondents had no opinion on Gillibrand. Nineteen percent had a favorable opinion of her, and 12 percent saw her unfavorably.

Democrats in New York City were particularly oblivious to the congresswoman, as 79 percent of city respondents didn’t know enough about her to form an opinion.

“She’s going to have a lot of work to do in the [New York City] media market over the next year to build up her name recognition and image,” PPP Communications Director Tom Jensen wrote on the company’s blog. “There’s definitely some potential she could be vulnerable to a primary challenge next year from a candidate better known in that area, where a large percentage of Democratic primary votes are cast.”

Gillibrand’s name recognition is bound to skyrocket after today’s announcement, however.

And while she may not have the celebrity or glamour of Caroline Kennedy, or previous holders of the seat such as Clinton, Daniel Patrick Moynihan or Robert Kennedy, she has proven herself to be an ambitious and reform-minded lawmaker while in Congress, as well as a formidable campaigner.

Gillibrand was elected to Congress in 2006 by upsetting Sweeney with 53 percent of the vote in the 20th District, raising $2.6 million in the process, a prodigious amount for a non-incumbent candidate.

Despite GOP efforts in 2008 to target her for defeat — and the big-spending challenge she drew defeating from the personally wealthy Sandy Treadwell, a former state Republican Party chairman and secretary of state — Gillibrand rode another well-financed campaign with nearly $5 million in receipts and won an impressive 62 percent of the vote. Although increasing Democratic strength in the once-dependably Republican district enabled Obama to outrun Republican John McCain there for president, he nonetheless ran 11 percentage points behind Gillibrand.

Gillibrand, Lenihan said, has “shown she can get Republican votes. She’s going to be attractive to the statewide audience.”