For Coming-Out Party, Gillibrand Stops in Harlem and Queens

> http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/nyregion/25trip.html

On one of the biggest days of her political life — the day after she was named successor to Hillary Rodham Clinton in the United States Senate — Representative Kirsten E. Gillibrand went to Harlem and southeast Queens on Saturday, meeting with black leaders and seeking to win over a constituency that might have been skeptical of an upstate congresswoman whose district is 2.7 percent black.

In the morning, she stood before dozens of black New Yorkers at the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network headquarters on West 145th Street, discussing the Wall Street bailout, unemployment and police brutality. In the afternoon, she met in Jamaica with Queens elected officials, including the new State Senate majority leader, Malcolm A. Smith, and talked with them behind closed doors about gun control and other issues.

“I am here to listen to you,” Ms. Gillibrand told the audience in Harlem, adding, “I’m here to represent all of New York.”

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Ms. Gillibrand seemed to make a good impression among those she met face to face on Saturday.

She had a disarming, down-to-earth style that surprised many of those she met. One staffer said it was not an affectation, but her natural personality. After she appeared with the governor at a news conference on Friday, she took one of her two children to the doctor for a cold.

No one can say he "traded" that seat, either.

She may not keep the gig, but she'll be fine as a placeholder. Certainly better than the rich fundraiser who wanted it.

This morning it said she was from a district with only ~600,000 people (i.e., how can she relate to NYC, and she hasn't represented very many people). I pointed out that, um, all our congressional districts have that many people - that's why there are so many in NYC and hers covers a large geographic area :)

She looked like one of those old bigot ladies clutching their purses as she walks through a throng of black people. I don't see Mitt Gillibrand garnering much black support.