Christmas may be over, but political gift giving continues…

In New York state, we are told that Caroline Kennedy is the favorite for Hillary Clinton’s soon-to-be-vacated Senate seat, and for the usual reasons of celebrity and money. Kennedy would have to run for election in 2010. Gov. David Paterson would also be on the ballot, as would New York’s other senator, Democrat Chuck Schumer.

On ABC’s “This Week With George Stephanopoulos,” Cokie Roberts explains that “her name and all that is going to work for the Democratic Party in New York, and that’s the calculation. … It’s not how great a senator she’s going to be.”

And Stephanopoulos adds, “They want someone else on the ballot with that star power who can raise the money.”

Would someone please draw a dark line of distinction between what we call a scandal in Illinois and business as usual in New York? Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is accused of trying to sell a vacant Senate seat, while New York Gov. Paterson is expected to give a Senate seat to the woman whose family can raise lots of money for his benefit.

In an utterly straight-faced editorial, The New York Times noted that Caroline has much going for her: “As a public figure, she carries the glamour and poignancy of her family, the only living child of President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, an uncle of hers, has reigned for years as the liberal clarion in the Senate. Another uncle, the late Bobby Kennedy, was a charismatic senator who represented New York 40 years ago.”

Famous father? Powerful uncle? Another charismatic uncle? Welcome to 19th century Parma.

For a while, I thought that only “Saturday Night Live” could save us from this absurdity, but then Politico burst through the nonsense with the perfect headline: “Nepotism Nation: Dems embrace dynasty politics.” The story lumped Caroline in with plans to save Vice President-elect Joe Biden’s Delaware Senate seat for his son and to give Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar’s job to Salazar’s brother.

Makes Obama’s rise seem a total miracle. But that’s another story.