The Rise Of Kirsten Gillibrand: How Hillary Clinton's Heir Is Winning Battles And Silencing Critics

WASHINGTON -- On a recent morning in November, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand marched briskly through the Capitol at about 8:30, two hours before the Senate was due to open. Her blond hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she was clad in workout clothes -- an unusual sight in the legislature's marble halls. As she walked, she munched from a to-go cup of cereal.

"I rarely have luxury time, so I try to be efficient," the New York Democrat said in an interview in her office.

She was talking about a recent shopping trip to a Capitol Hill Safeway with one of her two sons and her mother. Finding the line long, she left them to hold the place while she scouted the crowd for a faster-moving checkout counter.

"My life is intense for many reasons, but the most significant reason is that I have two young children," Gillibrand said. Her eldest, Theo, was born in 2003. Henry was born in 2008. "So my time at the grocery store is limited. I gotta get in and get out, because I have to pick Theo up from baseball or soccer, and get them home, get them fed and get them in bed. … I'm not surprised I was looking for the shortest line."

Gillibrand, 46, has approached politics with the same sense of urgency. Most recently, as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, she has pushed relentlessly to reform the military justice system, following a volley of reports showing thousands of cases of sexual assault going unpunished, with disastrous results.

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