By CBS News correspondent Kelly Wallace
Last night, Caroline Kennedy withdrew from consideration for the Senate seat that was vacated by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. She had been considered a leading contender to be the pick of New York Gov. David Paterson.
(AP)
The aide says Kennedy was "made aware of a personal situation" early yesterday afternoon that does not have anything to do with her uncle, Senator Kennedy Shortly after becoming aware of this "personal situation," she called Paterson early yesterday afternoon and said due to this personal situation, she'd be "removing her name for consideration" because of the "awesome responsibility" of being a U.S. senatorPaterson "graciously" told her to take time to think about it, Kennedy was "thankful and agreed." Shortly after that, the story broke in multiple places that she was pulling out.Kennedy called governor between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. last night, thanked him for his time and said she would be removing her name from consideration.The aide would not elaborate or offer any guidance on the personal situation or whether this is something that came up during the vetting process.
The aide did not know if there would be an additional statement or on-camera comment by Kennedy today.
The aide also said that reporting that she withdrew because she learned she wasn't going to get the job is incorrect.