Possible New Challenger for Gillibrand?

With both Harold Ford on the Democrat side and Mort Zuckerman on the GOP (or independent) side both bowing out this week as potential challengers to New York Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand, another name has popped up in recent days, although this is the first I've seen of the name Dan Senor.

Dan Senor, the husband of CNN's Campbell Brown and a former Bush administration foreign policy adviser, is eyeing a run as a Republican against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, The Knickerbocker has learned.

Senor has been meeting with people recent weeks around the state - including "political people and money types," said one source.

Senor has already spoken with state GOP chairman Ed Cox, The Knickerbocker confirmed.

Senor is the founder of Rosemont Capital LLC, and brings to his resume the fact that he was among the civilian officials who served the longest in Iraq as the post-Saddam Hussein government was being established.

"I think he's very interested," said a Republican source. "He's very bright, would be a strong candidate."

The reason I happened across Senor today is the possible conflict of interest his wife would have if he entered the race.

CNN is facing a sticky situation if anchor Campbell Brown's husband -- former Bush White House adviser Dan Senor -- decides to run as a Republican against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.

The network will have to decide if Brown can keep hosting her 8 p.m. nightly news show -- or if she would be compromised by the conflict.

Precedents regarding TV news personalities and their politically elected spouses go both ways.

Former "Dateline" anchor Maria Shriver was bounced by NBC in 2004 shortly after her husband, Arnold Schwarzenegger, was elected governor of California.

But Gail Huff, the wife of recently elected Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, continues to work as a reporter for Boston TV station WCVB.

CNN yesterday declined to talk about the potential dilemma.

"We don't comment on hypothetical situations," a CNN spokeswoman said yesterday.

But Senor is now being talked about in Republican circles as the front-runner in the race for the Republican nomination after Daily News owner and real estate mogul Mort Zuckerman took himself out of the running Tuesday night.

Honestly I don't think Brown staying on the air would rpesent any problem. For one, there are only about three Republicans still alive that watch CNN and her ratings are so anemic it couldn't possibly make any difference considering Democrats so greatly outnumber Republicans in New York State.

In the past month, it has seen some of the lowest ratings ever on CNN. One night last week, the audience dropped below 350,000 viewers.

The other possible contender on the GOP side is former Governor George Pataki, who spent 12 years in office and didn't exactly leave the best legacy, but he could beat Gillibrand.

In a similar finding to a Marist Poll released Tuesday, Rasmussen Reports has New York's Democratic senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, running neck-and-neck with former Gov. George Pataki.

Gillibrand leads Pataki, who has not announced he would run, by a statistically insignificant 44 percent to 42 percent with 4 percent preferring some other candidate and 9 percent undecided. The margin of error is 4.5 points. The poll was conducted March 1.

Considering the problems Democrats currently face in New York (see Paterson, Rangel, Massa), their brand is lagging and the GOP certainly should be able to capitalize if they get their act together.

Now, if only someone would step up and take on the 800-pound gorilla, namely Chuckie Schumer.