I wouldn’t nominate a Jew (Lowey), or someone from NYC (Velazquez).
Voters recently elected 3 Jews as Governor, Mayor of NYC, and the other Senator, Schumer. Appoint another Jew as the 2nd Senator? Excessive.. New York has 1,625,000 Jews out of 19,298,000 people. Patterson has to balance his constituencies and not favor Jews centered around NYC.
And right now, Patterson, Schumer, and Bloomberg(obviously) are long-time NYC power wielders. A 4th bigshot from NYC, occupying the other Senate seat, would also be excessive. And seen as a slap in the face to Upstaters & Long Islanders that don’t think NYC is the Center of the World, of America, even New York State.
He might try a black, but if Illinois appoints a black to replace Obama, it would be like Cuomo appointing a paisan pal in a similar situation. If Illinois doesn’t, it makes it much easier for Paterson to go with a black from Upstate, like Buffalo’s mayor.
