Suddenly I like New York Gov. David Paterson a lot more:
New York Gov. David Paterson has chosen Democratic Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand to succeed Hillary Clinton as U.S. Senator from New York, multiple Democratic sources told CNN Friday.
Gillibrand, 42, represents New York's traditionally Republican 20th district.
She is a member of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of congressional Democrats who hold more conservative views than their liberal Democratic counterparts.
She is an outspoken advocate for gun rights, and she supports an extension of the Bush tax cuts. She has been endorsed by the National Rifle Association.
She's not perfect -- she gets a 100 percent rating from the American Civil Liberties Union -- but she seems a lot more conservative than many Republicans we could all name. She's one of the Democrats who joined House Republicans in voting against the Bush administration's $700 billion bailout, aruing that the plan lacked proper oversight. Sure got that one right, didn't she?
