Brown and Clinton at City Honors last June.

On Monday, political gossip-slinger Joe Illuzzi reported that Caroline Kennedy had called Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown that afternoon, apropos her interest in filling Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat. Illuzzi opines:

We believe it is presumptuous of Caroline Kennedy to have called the Mayor of Buffalo.

One could extrapolate it was an intimidation tactic. Caroline Kennedy using her name & $$$ in an attempt to get the Mayor to take his name out of consideration for Clinton’s Senate seat.

Number one: The good news is our Mayor doesn’t get intimidated.

Number two: Mayor Byron Brown is far more qualified as a local Councilman, NYS Senator & Mayor of a large City to represent the State of New York in the Senate of the United States.

In fact, a source tells AV, Kennedy called every Democratic mayor and county executive in the state to discuss her interest in the Senate seat, not just Brown—who is not, in any case, on any current short or even long list of candidates to fill Clinton’s seat. On the contrary, our source says that Governor David Paterson, who will choose Clinton’s successor, is annoyed at Brown and his political team for continuing to insert his name in the mix.

In addition to Kennedy, US Representatives Steve Israel of Long Island and Kirsten Gillibrand of Albany remain strong candidates.

City Hall News has flow_chart that tracks who might replace who, from Hillary’s Senate seat on down (click to expand or follow the link—it’s an awkward shape):

The AP reports that Hillary Clinton met with Barack Obama in Chicago yesterday, adding fuel to speculation that she might be Obama’s choice for secretary of state. If that happens, it has long been rumored that Brian Higgins would be appointed to her Senate seat. (BuffaloPundit reports that rumor this morning. And again this afternoon.) I know a couple prominent businessmen who are working to make that happen, and who knows? Downstate Democrats will make that decision, but maybe it’ll come to pass.

If Clinton does go to Obama’s cabinet, and Higgins does take her Senate seat, then who fills Higgins’ spot in the House? Byron Brown has had his eye on Louise Slaughter’s seat, should she retire soon. But Higgins’ seat is probably safer for Brown (for whomever winds up in it, hypothetically). After the 2010 Census, upstate New York is likely to lose another representative in Congress, and Slaughter’s seat might be the one to go. It’s one ugly-looking district:

There has been another rumor that Brown, not Higgins, would be appointed to Clinton’s seat, but that seems nutball. Higgins’ seat seems a more reasonable aspiration for the mayor.

Who, then, would join Mickey Kearns in the race to replace Brown next year?

AV columnist Bruce Fisher writes:

What’s a super-delegate to do?

1. Pay attention to Pennsylvania

2. Just say No to a repeat of 1972

Democrats should worry that 1972 is going to happen all over again.

That was the year when Pat Caddell was the strategist and pollster for Senator George McGovern, the South Dakota war hero who wanted to end the Vietnam War.

Pat Caddell sold campaign manager Gary Hart on a fantasy—that they could put together a new coalition to defeat a very weird man named President Richard Nixon. The Pat Caddell fantasy was that young people, racial minorities and newly politicized women would join with union men to defeat an incumbent Republican who was tough on Communism, tough on crime, and tough on social discord. The Pat Caddell fantasy turned out to be just that.

That history should be in mind as folks consider Hillary Clinton’s 10-point victory in the Pennsylvania Democratic primary. That contest was more than a win for Hillary Clinton—it was a signal that the Clinton coalition is an enduring phenomenon, and not a flavor-of-the-month. She really does connect with the Democratic base.

Democrats voting in a primary open only to registered Democrats chose a combative, class-oriented appeal based on a very forceful assertion of the federal government’s role in changing policy. This should be music to the ears of progressives everywhere.

Why? Because Democrats seem to be coming home—if only to Hillary. Republicans since Richard Nixon not only made inroads into but actually relied upon those key Democratic constituencies—older voters, white males of every age, women, Jews, and Catholics—who this week chose Clinton over Obama.

They chose Clinton notwithstanding Obama’s enormous advantage in funds and campaign competence. That doesn’t mean, though, that Clinton will be able to overcome the rules of the Democratic National Committee, which currently favor an Obama nomination.

The Cadell-like theory of the Obama candidacy has resulted in a tremendous excitement in “open” primaries. But Obama’s candidacy has failed to attract much support from the swing voters who could just swing back to the Republicans, the way they have since 1968—except when they voted for Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996.

Western New York, outside of Buffalo, voted for George Bush in 2000 and again in 2004. Western New York is full of Nixon Democrats, Reagan Democrats, Bush Democrats, and Clinton Democrats.

But given the way Pennsylvania went, Democrats here may be more likely to support McCain if they can’t have Hillary.

Christine Todd Whitman, the Bush administration’s former EPA chief, cannot be held liable for telling residents and workers that the air was safe to breathe after the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001. A lawsuit by residents was dismissed by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The court found the EPA’s actions were “flawed” but ruled that legal remedies “are not always available for every instance of arguably deficient governmental performance.” Many residents and workers in New York City are suffering severe and chronic breathing ailments. With the Bush administration, “deficient governmental performance” seems to be a way of life, from Katrina to Iraq to the World Trade Center. I guess the official response could be summed up this way: “tough shit.”

Hillary Clinton, pundits said, had to win Pennsylvania by 10% to stay in the race. She won the Pennsylvania primary by 10%, beating Obama 55% to 45%.

McKinley High teacher is cleared by the state of an allegation she prepped students beforehand on an essay question for their Regents exam. Other McKinley High allegations made by an anonymous source are still under investigation, including video and computer equipment disappearing; athletes put in special ed classes so they could pass and remain on the basketball team; and friends and relatives of principal Crystal Barton being given jobs that amounted to running errands and hanging around the office.

Proposed Suspension Bridge designed by Christian Menn that was the choice of a 32-member design jury in 2005 (after years of fighting the PBA’s “twin span” concept) has been ruled out by state and federal environmental agencies because of a possible threat to some bird and fish species.

The Clinton campaign just sent out the following press release—State Department employees peaked at her passport file too:

“This morning, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice contacted Senator Clinton in order to inform her that the Senator’s passport file was breached in 2007. The State Department will be briefing Senator Clinton’s staff this afternoon to provide details about the recent unauthorized breaches of passport records. Senator Clinton will closely monitor the State Department’s investigation into this and the other breaches of private passport information.”