Slightly more than half of Americans say Caroline Kennedy has what it takes to serve in the U.S. Senate, according to a CNN/Opinion Research Poll. 

Kennedy, 51, is campaigning to fill the New York senate seat held by Hillary Clinton, who has been nominated for Secretary of State.

The only person who gets a vote is New York Gov. David Paterson, who will appoint any replacement for Clinton. 

Kennedy, a lawyer, has been involved in education issues but has never held office. She has name recognition and membership in an American political dynasty. Her uncle, Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, is one of the most powerful members of the Senate. 

But is Caroline Kennedy qualified to a senator?

Fifty-two percent of Americans say “yes” and 42 percent say “not” qualified, according to the poll of 1,013 adults published on Monday. 

Which raises the question, what exactly qualifies anyone to be a senator?

The U.S. Constitution lists only three qualifications: 

-you must be at least 30 

-you have to be a U.S. citizen for nine years

-you have live in the state from which you are elected 

That’s it. 
    
For the record there have been 180 senators appointed since 1913 to seats vacated by death, expulsion or resignation.

Some have had family connections — like Muriel Humphrey of Minnesota and Jean Carnahan of Missouri, widows appointed to fill seats to which their husbands were elected.

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Photo credit: Reuters/Brian Snyder (Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg at John F. Kennedy Awards ceremony at Harvard in November)

WASHINGTON - Women are set to make history next month in the 220-year-old U.S. Senate.

For the first time since the Senate opened its doors in 1789, a pair of female lawmakers are in line to lead one of the chamber’s full committees.

Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana is set to chair the Small Business Committee and Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine is positioned to serve as the panel’s top Republican.

“It is a distinguished honor to join Senator Landrieu during this historic moment that will further empower women to pursue leadership roles within our country,” Snowe said.

To be sure, men dominate the Senate and American politics. But women have made big and high-profile gains in recent years.

At least 16 women will be U.S. senators next year, perhaps 17 depending on who succeeds Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.

Clinton, who barely lost the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, will surrender her Senate seat after her anticipated confirmation next month as Barack Obama’s secretary of state.

Among the contenders to replace Clinton is another woman, Caroline Kennedy, daughter of former President John F. Kennedy and a niece of Sen. Edward Ted Kennedy.

REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque (women U.S. senators in January 2007)

REUTERS/Brian Snyder (Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg listens at a Harvard event)

WASHINGTON - With campaign observers in a frenzy awaiting the impending results of the 2008 vice presidential sweepstakes, filmmaker Michael Moore has stepped up with a provocative plea to an advisor to Barack Obama: “Caroline, Pull a Cheney!”

That would be Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of the late President John F. Kennedy, and the head of the group searching to find a running mate for the Democratic nominee.

“I cannot think of a more winning ticket than one that reads: “OBAMA-KENNEDY,” Moore wrote in an open letter to Kennedy posted on his Web site.

Moore, whose documentary “Fahrenheit 9/11” went after President George W. Bush’s administration, apparently is discouraged by the fact that Kennedy’s name has not come up in discussions of vice presidential candidates.

“What Obama needs is a vice presidential candidate who is NOT a professional politician but someone who is well-known and beloved by people across the political spectrum,” Moore wrote.

“This is the moment, Caroline. Seize it!” the writer-director says urging Kennedy to take a cue from the current vice president.

Dick Cheney was heading Bush’s vice presidential search committee in 2000 before he became the candidate’s choice to fill the No. 2 slot on the Republican ticket.

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 - Photo credit, right: Reuters/ Brian Snyder (Kennedy speaks at the 2008 Profile in Courage Award ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston in May 2008..)

WASHINGTON - With the clock ticking on his hunt for a running mate, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama spent nearly three hours on Monday meeting with his vice presidential search team and campaign advisers.

Obama visited the downtown office of Eric Holder, a former deputy attorney general who is leading the process of researching and analyzing potential vice presidential picks, and emerged with little to say.

Asked by reporters who he met with, Obama replied: “Some guys.” As he got into his car, he asked reporters how they were doing then told them: “Get back on the bus.”

A few minutes after Obama pulled away, the Politico newspaper reported that the other leader of the search process, Caroline Kennedy, daughter of President John Kennedy, and campaign manager David Plouffe and strategist David Axelrod left the building through a separate entrance.

The Washington Post reported Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine has had “very serious” talks about joining the ticket, according to sources close to Kaine. Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden and Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh are also being seriously vetted for the job, the Post said.

Neither Obama nor Republican rival John McCain is expected to make a choice during the opening week of the Olympic Games in China, which start on Aug. 8, giving them less than two weeks to make their decisions known or wait until near the nominating conventions.

The Democratic convention opens on Aug. 25.

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Jason Reed (Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama speaks alongside his top economic advisors during a roundtable meeting at a hotel in Washington, D.C., on July 28)

NEW YORK - White House hopeful Barack Obama had reporters in his entourage wondering on Wednesday if his search for a vice presidential running mate is intensifying.

While in Washington for some Senate votes, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee dropped by a Pennsylvania Avenue office building for some meetings but the campaign would not say what they were about.

The building happened to be the same one where former U.S. deputy attorney general Eric Holder works. Holder and Caroline Kennedy, daughter of slain U.S. president John F. Kennedy, are heading up Obama’s search for a No. 2.

The meetings were important enough that the Illinois senator was accompanied by his campaign manager, David Plouffe and his top campaign strategist, David Axelrod.

Obama is keeping his search close to the vest.

Pressed on what type of person he is looking for, Obama told ABC’s Good Morning America he wants “somebody with integrity” and who could competently serve as president and offer him “unvarnished advice.”

“Beyond that I haven’t talked about our vice presidential process, and I’m not going to until we actually select my choice as vice presidential nominee,” Obama said.

But Obama further stoked the curiosity of reporters when Caroline Kennedy and his former Democratic presidential rival Hillary Clinton joined him on a flight Wednesday evening en route to some fundraisers in New York.

Clinton is among a list of many people Obama will consider as a running mate, although some pundits think her chances of being offered the role are not very high.

But Obama is determined to try to heal the rift that opened in the party during the hard-fought primary battle. At a fundraiser with 1,000 of his supporters, he made a plea for the donors to contribute money to Clinton to help her retire the millions in debt she accumulated during the primary. But he made a small faux pas in initially forgetting to publicly call attention to the pledge sheets that had been set out on the donors’ chairs to encourage them to give money to Clinton.

After Obama spoke for 35 minutes about his aims in running for president, the Stevie Wonder song “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” blared over the loud speakers to signal he had concluded his remarks.

A minute or two later, he returned to the microphone.

“Hold on a second guys,” Obama said. “I was getting a little carried away. I’ve got one more thing that is important too.”

He made a pitch for the donors to fill out the pledge sheets for Clinton, saying it was “part of the process of making sure that we are unified moving forward.”

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Photo credit: Reuters/Mike Segar (Obama with Sen. Edward Kennedy and Caroline Kennedy in a February rally in New Jersey)