WASHINGTON — Gov. David A. Paterson said on Tuesday that he would announce no later than Saturday whom he would appoint to fill the Senate seat that is being vacated by Hillary Rodham Clinton.Mr. Paterson, speaking to reporters here shortly after President Obama was sworn in, said he had all but decided on his choice Monday afternoon but planned to mull it over for a few more days. “I have a good idea now which direction I want to go,” Mr. Paterson said.
Then, explaining why he would wait to reveal his choice, he added: “I thought that with something this serious — that when I came to a point of view — that I wouldn’t react to it immediately. So since I’m going to be here for another couple of days, I thought I would see if it feels the same way when I come back on Wednesday as it did, I guess toward the end of yesterday afternoon, when I think I started to come to a point of view.”
There has been much speculation that the governor plans to appoint Caroline Kennedy, daughter of President John F. Kennedy. Like Mr. Paterson, Ms. Kennedy attended the inaugural ceremony on Tuesday, but has otherwise kept a low profile in Washington.
Several Democrats close to the governor dismissed any suggestion that Senator Kennedy’s health could influence Mr. Paterson’s choice, but one friend of the governor’s said it might. “It might pull at his heart strings in terms of Caroline. It just might,” said the friend, who spoke anonymously to offer a candid assessment of how Mr. Paterson may react.
In an interview later in the day with CBS News, Mr. Paterson shed a little more light on his selection process.
Mr. Paterson said that Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo was indeed under consideration, although both men have been coy about whether Mr. Cuomo was actively seeking it. Asked about the possibility that the ambitious Mr. Cuomo would run against him for governor next year if Mr. Paterson did not pick him, Mr. Paterson said he did not think so. “He’s told me that he doesn’t want to run against me,” Mr. Paterson said. “I would think that’s the case.”