FOR a candidate promising a break with the past, Barack Obama made a curious choice for a key position in his presidential campaign team last week. His decision to appoint Caroline Kennedy to a sensitive political role leading his search for a vice-presidential running mate has aroused both intrigue and derision in US political circles.

The daughter of the late President John F Kennedy has no serious political experience, has been involved in only one previous presidential campaign – when her uncle, Ted Kennedy, ran for the White House in 1980 – and has long been considered the most private member of America’s most celebrated political dynasty.

Obama’s right-wing critics have mocked what they portray as his demeaning attempts to associate himself with JFK and the Camelot legend. One right-wing columnist dismissed Caroline’s appointment to his team as “window dressing”, calling her a “Camelot heiress / political dilettante”. Another called her a “nitwit” and assailed Obama for “choosing star power over substance”. Yet the appointment also provoked a startling outpouring of enthusiasm for Kennedy’s late-flowering interest in presidential politics.

Some have even suggested – not entirely mischievously – that Obama’s ideal running mate should be Kennedy herself. Linda Milazzo, an online columnist for The Huffington Post, sparked a flurry of internet interest when she declared last week that Obama and Kennedy made a “dream ticket” for the 2008 White House race.

Kennedy’s prominence in the Obama campaign dates back to January, when she became the most prominent member of her family to turn her back on Hillary Clinton, long a Kennedy ally. In an article for The New York Times, Kennedy hailed Obama’s inspirational qualities and said they reminded her of her father, who was assassinated when she was five.

“I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them,” she wrote. “But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president.”

Her endorsement sparked a flurry of Kennedy defections to Obama, most notably by Uncle Ted, whose abandonment of Clinton shocked the Democrats. When he was found to have potentially terminal brain cancer, Kennedy found herself as her family’s most prominent political spokeswoman.

It was an unaccustomed position for a previously reclusive 50-year-old lawyer whose life has been scarred by repeated tragedies, yet who has somehow managed to avoid the scandals and misadventures endured by many of her cousins.

For many older Americans, Kennedy will always be remembered as the captivating blonde child who had a pony named Macaroni and whose parents each became icons – JFK, the assassinated president, and Jackie Onassis, the paparazzi magnet. While her mother and her older brother, John Jr, rarely escaped intensive scrutiny, Caroline quietly attended Harvard University and Columbia Law School, married Ed Schlossberg, a fellow lawyer, and had three children who were kept well away from the public eye.

Over the years she co-wrote a couple of law books, worked for numerous charitable foundations and supported liberal causes. She overcame the assassination of her uncle, Robert F Kennedy, the death of her mother from cancer and the deaths of her brother and sister-in-law in a plane crash.

Her admirers portray her as a clever, discreet, behind-the-scenes influence who may not have held political office but who has worked all her life with those who do. Obama aides emphasised last week that discretion was the most important virtue in examining vice-presidential contenders, as awkward questions need to be asked – such as “have you ever used prostitutes?”

“There were good reasons to pick Caroline for the job,” said one adviser.

Yet Republicans were in little doubt about the real reason for Kennedy’s inclusion. “If she was just Caroline Schlossberg, she wouldn’t even have been considered,” noted Jay Tea, a conservative blogger. “Obama wants her for the magic the Kennedy name brings.”

Others pointed out that when George W Bush asked Dick Cheney to head his vice-presidential search team in 2000, Cheney ended up getting the job.

“So how about Caroline Kennedy for vice-president?” asked Mizzoli. “She’s certainly weathered difficulty, as Hillary Clinton claims to have done. And she’s worked her entire life on behalf of those less fortunate, as Hillary claims to have done . . . there is little negative to be said about Caroline.”

Hillary Clinton
Odds: 3/1

Her supporters want her on the ticket; Obama’s supporters can’t stand her. Obama can’t afford to alienate Clinton but everything suggests he doesn’t want to run with her

Jim Webb
Odds: 6/1

A Vietnam veteran and former navy secretary under Ronald Reagan, the Virginia senator has the military credentials Obama lacks. Obama could use help from someone with medals

Kathleen Sebelius
Odds: 7/1

The governor of Kansas has become one of America’s most successful women politicians. Obama could try to woo Hillary voters with a female deputy who isn’t Hillary

Bill Richardson
Odds: 10/1

The governor of New Mexico and former UN ambassador has experience and foreign policy heft. But a black and a Hispanic on the same ticket may be too historic for some

Ted Strickland
Odds: 14/1

The traditional role of a running mate is to deliver an important battleground state. They don’t come much more important than Ohio, where Strickland is governor

Chuck Hagel
Odds: 50/1

The Nebraska senator, critic of the Iraq war and the token Republican on the list. But the Republican Obama likes best is McCain, who is unlikely to be available

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