The clash of the dynasties in New York

Politico:

The appointment of the New York Senate seat Hillary Clinton will shortly vacate has become a struggle among political dynasties, with the question being which family ends up on top.

It involves no fewer than five intertwined political clans of varied national and regional standing-the Clintons, the Kennedys, the Cuomos, the Patersons and the Suozzis, with cameo appearances by the Ickes and the Rutnik-Gillibrand families.

As the clans clash and collude to fill the soon-to-be vacant seat, the frontrunner to replace the former first lady appears to be Caroline Kennedy, the former first daughter with an unexceptional resume and a low public profile prior to her campaign work for Barack Obama earlier this year.

On the other hand, her name is pretty much everywhere in New York, ranging from the international airport named after her father to the Triboro Bridge, which was recently renamed for uncle Bobby, once the state's junior senator.

That's just one example of the tangling of plotlines with bloodlines.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, son of former Gov. Mario Cuomo, covets the Clinton seat and is deeply frustrated by the Kennedy family's machinations on behalf of Caroline, according to several New York Democrats.

From 1990 to 2003, Cuomo the Younger was married, Montague-and-Capulet style, to Robert F. Kennedy's daughter Kerry-and was close friends with Caroline's brother John Jr., from 1988 to his 1999 death. The marriage ended in a bitter divorce after Cuomo reportedly discovered his wife had an affair with a polo player.

...

It must have been the Kennedy promiscuity gene that killed the marriage. An election could cure most of these ills, but because of the appointment process one of these people will have a leg up by the time one is held.