RUN, CAROLYN, RUN

Rep. Carolyn Maloney of Manhattan says she's planning a primary chal lenge to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, the ideological chameleon from Albany.

Good for Maloney.

Yep, she's a dyed-in-the-wool liberal Democrat. And her positions on most major issues give us hives.

But she has principles, and for 16 years she has ably represented New York's so-called Silk Stocking district -- the East Side of Manhattan and parts of Queens.

Kirsten Gillibrand?

In 2006, she eked out a victory in the 20th Congressional District -- which, while it's changing, counts as many cows within its borders as liberals.

Gillibrand won by mouthing conservative views on the issues, and by taking full advantage of a scandal-plagued Republican incumbent's many weaknesses.

She cruised to re-election in 2008 -- after having presented herself as a pro-gun, anti-immigration, anti-gay-marriage, anti-bank-bailout "moderate" Democrat.

Then New York's senior senator, Chuck Schumer, and its accidental governor, David Paterson, egregiously and successfully conspired to replace Hillary Clinton with Gillibrand.

Whereupon Gilly began changing colors -- morphing from deep purple to bright blue in the blink of an eye.

Clearly, Kirsten Gillibrand isn't about to let principles stand between herself and all those downstate primary votes.

But as unseemly as her behavior may be, even worse is the disrespect for democracy that Schumer and the Democratic Party -- all the way up to the White House -- have displayed to date.

Himself the product of a bruising 1998 primary fight, Schumer has now decided that contested primaries are bad -- doubtless because he knows that his puppet will be hard-pressed to win one.

So, he got President Obama to push aside possible challengers to Gillibrand, including Long Island Rep. Steve Israel.

Maloney, happily, seems to be made of tougher stuff.

New Yorkers deserve to choose their own leaders.

WASHINGTON -- In a slap at President Obama, former President Bill Clinton will headline a fund-raiser for Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who is challenging Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in the Democratic primary for Senate.


NYP EDITORIAL: RUN, CAROLYN, RUN 9/27/09

Clinton has not endorsed anyone in the race, but his move to help Maloney soon after Obama attempted to clear the field for Gillibrand could be seen as an insult to the White House.

Clinton spokesman Matt McKenna said yesterday that Clinton -- a legendary fund-raiser -- will attend the July 20 event at The St. Regis hotel in Manhattan, even though the money raised will be used to try to unseat a White House-backed candidate.

McKenna downplayed the significance of the event, noting that Clinton did a similar event for Gillibrand in the spring.

"We agreed some time ago to attend this event as a way of saying thank you for al the hard work that Carolyn Maloney did for the [Hillary Clinton] 2008 campaign, just as we have done for candidates around the country," McKenna said.

Polls show Maloney and Gillibrand running neck-and-neck.

During the Democratic primaries last year, Bill Clinton publicly criticized Obama as untested and unready for the job of president, which Hillary Clinton was also seeking. Bill Clinton and Obama buried the ax, and the former president campaigned for the Democratic nominee.

The fund-raiser was planned to benefit Maloney's House election committee, but those funds are entirely transferrable to her Senate campaign account.

Maloney has not formally announced her bid for Gillibrand's seat, but an adviser has said for the first time this week that she's running. An announcement is expected in about two weeks.

Her decision to enter the race came in spite of the White House's attempts to smooth the way for Gillibrand 14 months before the statewide primary.

Democratic Rep. Steve Israel (LI) backed out of the race after Obama asked him to do so for the sake of party unity.

Gillibrand has already proven herself an effective fund-raiser, and Obama's support is expected to open a lot of doors for the upstate Democrat.

Marist College pollster Lee Miringoff said Maloney's ability to "kick those doors open" for herself will determine how much of a threat she poses to Gillibrand.

The most recent campaign-finance filings available showed that Gillibrand had $2.2 million in her war chest, while Maloney had $1.3 million. With Post Wire Services