AFTER weeks of intensive lobbying, Caroline Kennedy will learn this week whether she will be selected to replace Hillary Clinton in the US Senate – much to the disgust of other formidable women politicians who found the path to political prominence far rockier.

Sarah Palin, the much-mocked governor of Alaska and former Republican vice-presidential candidate, has already taken a swipe at the media fuss over the daughter of President John F Kennedy, and her seemingly effortless attempt to enter the US Senate without a bothersome election.

“I’ve been interested to see how Caroline Kennedy will be handled,” said Palin, who endured months of withering scrutiny after John McCain unexpectedly chose her as his running mate last year. Palin wondered if there was a “class issue” involved in the comparative treatments of the heir to the Kennedy Camelot legend and an upstart housewife from Wasilla, Alaska.

Carolyn Maloney, a popular New York congresswoman, also suggested last week that what her state needed was not a glamorous political name, but someone with the experience and Washington contacts to “confront this fiscal crisis and bring the resources the state so desperately needs”.

Throwing her own hat in the ring, she added: “Maloney is not a well-known name. My father was not a rich and famous person. But I am a hard-working woman. This should be a selection on merit.”

New York’s governor, David Paterson, could announce as early as Tuesday his choice to replace Clinton, whose appointment as secretary of state is a formality after a Senate confirmation hearing last week. Senator David Vitter of Louisiana was the only Republican to vote against Clinton out of concern over her husband’s political and financial connections.

Whoever succeeds her will enter the Senate on an interim basis pending a by-election in 2010. Paterson has let it be known that he has considered 15 candidates for the post, but most New York insiders believe he will choose between Kennedy and Andrew Cuomo, the son of former governor Mario Cuomo and currently the state’s ambitious and influential attorney-general.

Initially welcomed by many New Yorkers after her high-profile role as a senior adviser to Barack Obama during his presidential campaign, Kennedy has since suffered a series of embarrassing mishaps, including a series of semi-coherent interviews. One opinion poll last week showed that her popularity in New York has nosedived, with only 37% believing she would make a good senator.

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