Trudy Mason

With the rise of Hillary Clinton's presidential prospects comes the escalating chatter about who would get to fill out the remainder of her senate term. The speculation so far has been mostly limited to half-hearted denials denials by politicians, blind quotes from supporters and tea-leaf reading by reporters.

But yesterday, I got one person to go on the record. Above is a clip of Trudy Mason, a notable character in Manhattan politics, making the case, without apology, for Representative Carolyn Maloney to get the Hillary seat.

We hear that some serious arm-twisting is being conducted on Giff's behalf at the moment among the well-bred members of the Lexington Democratic Club.

The outline, as we understand it, is that Gifford thought he had the club's support until Fields partisans, led by Trudy Mason, starting engaging in the time-honored practice of packing the club with new, pro-Virginia members.  read more »

The club's executive board is meeting tonight, with the former president of the club, John Mills, leading the push to set an earlier date for the endorsement meeting, in order to keep those new members off the books. It has gotten a bit, we're told, "raucous."

We also hear that Giff himself, along with Jonathan Bing and an aide to Rep. Carolyn Maloney, have been making calls and twisting arms. The folks at the Lex Club must be feeling rather important today.