Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) has been chosen by Governor David Patterson of New York to fill Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s vacant Senate seat, sources tell WPIX.

PIX NEWS is being told that Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand is the reported choice of Governor David Paterson to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Hillary Clinton.  Two Congressional sources say members of the New York delegation have been invited to join Governor Paterson for the announcement in Albany at noon tomorrow.

Two members of that delegation, agreeing to speak without attribution, confirmed to reporter Marvin Scott that the Governor has telephoned New York’s Democratic members of  Congress for their views after Caroline Kennedy withdrew herself from consideration.  One of the contenders, longterm Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney canceled a scheduled appearance on “PIX News Closeup” tomorrow because of a “conflict,” which she did not disclose. She too will be in Albany. According to the sources, Gillibrand, now in her second congressional term, was favored by Secretary of State Clinton herself. Paterson has been under pressure to select a woman.

How bad is the pick? Actually, it’s pretty good news. A member of the Blue Dog Coalition, Gillibrand opposes gun control and supports the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts. She also spoke out against Elliot Spitzer’s plan to give illegal aliens drivers licenses. It sounds like we could’ve done a whole lot worse.

Update: Wait, it gets better. NY20, the district Gillibrand represents, has a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+3. What does that mean? That President Bush received 3% more support in that district than the national average in 2004. Bush received 54% of the district’s vote then. As one diarist at Kos is saying, “Her House seat, unfortunately, will be a difficult hold.”