"Everyone knows who she is, but I'm not sure what she is," said Ackerman. "Eventually she has to get in the ring, and face the public."
Kennedy launched a kind of listening tour last week, in which she visited upstate New York but spent most of her time in private meetings. While some Democrats praised Kennedy's effort, others like Ackerman did not.
"DNA in this business can take you just so far," said the congressman, before cracking a joke. "Rembrandt was a great artist. His brother Murray, on the other hand, Murray Rembrandt, wouldn't paint a house."
Ackerman previously ruffled feathers among New York Democrats by comparing Kennedy to actress Jennifer Lopez, saying they are both big names, but that doesn't mean Kennedy would make a good senator.
New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein defended her as a talented and committed person.
"In her own quiet but very effective way, she's going to be able to bring new ideas at a time this country needs them," said Klein. "I think Caroline Kennedy has all of the right stuff."
As for charges she is an out-of-touch elite, Klein said her work raising money for the public school system shows sed that Kennedy has written about the Constitution, while Palin memorably demurred when asked what newspapers she reads.
As for the resistance to Kennedy even among some Democrats, Slaughter said: "I don't understand it. It's not as though this woman's coming to do us harm, it's not as if we don't know her. I took time out to raise my children, too. I find that a commendable thing, certainly it does not disqualify her from running."
Republicans are already taking shots at Kennedy, even though Paterson's decision is probably weeks away.
Buffalo congressman Tom Reynolds, who is retiring after years as a GOP power broker, said the Democrats have shown problems with senate appointments in Illinois, where the governor faces criminal charges he allegedly tried to sell the seat held by Obama, and Delaware, where an unknown congressional staffer was picked to the seat held by Sen. Joe Biden. Critics have charged the Delaware pick is a placeholder until Biden's son returns from military service.
"We've seen the Senate become a House of Lords," said Reynolds. "We're seeing a seatwarmer in Delaware, a seat-seller in Illinois and we're making seat cushions in New York for kind of an aristocrat royalty of entitlement."
