NEW YORK: Caroline Kennedy’s abrupt withdrawal from the New York Senate contest sparked an extraordinary back-and-forth on Thursday between rival camps, pitting the erstwhile candidate against the governor she once courted.

But the question remained: why did she quit?

A person close to Gov David Paterson said Kennedy botched her campaign for the job and cited allegations regarding taxes, domestic help and the state of Kennedy’s marriage, though he offered no proof. The governor’s office later backed away from the assertion.

People close to Kennedy brushed aside those charges and said it was devotion to her family that drove her decision, and nothing more.

”She did not have any issue with taxes, no issues about her marriage or her nanny – none of that is even close to in play,” said a person familiar with events surrounding the Senate seat formerly held by Hillary Rodham Clinton. “This woman does everything exactly how it’s meant to be done.” The source did not want to be identified because he was not authorized to speak for Kennedy.

The Associated Press said on Thursday night that New York authorities could not find any problems with Kennedy’s tax records. In a December interview, she denied any nanny problem and said her husband, Edwin Schlossberg, was very supportive.

Kennedy’s withdrawal in a one-sentence statement issued just after midnight Wednesday stunned political insiders in New York and Washington and prompted speculation from one coast to the other. The Paterson camp seized upon Kennedy’s announcement – and confusion that swirled for several hours beforehand about whether or not she was dropping out – as evidence she was not up to the job, even though she was widely regarded as a leading contender.

The person close to Paterson would present the governor’s version of events only on condition of anonymity. The source said Kennedy called the governor twice on Wednesday and made contradictory comments about her interest in serving in the Senate, then surprised the governor by issuing a terse statement hours later citing unspecified “personal reasons” for removing herself from consideration.

Individuals close to Kennedy, 51, said she made clear her desire to quit when she called Paterson on Wednesday, and the governor urged her to take time to reconsider. Paterson’s camp said that was not true.

Others close to Kennedy said the health of her uncle, Sen Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., did not factor into her decision, contrary to some news accounts. Sen Kennedy has been diagnosed with a brain tumour and was hospitalized this week after suffering a seizure at President Barack Obama’s inaugural luncheon at the Capitol.

Neither Kennedy nor Paterson spoke to reporters on Thursday, but the governor issued a statement saying his fellow Democrat’s decision “was hers alone.”

The open Senate seat and its attendant drama resulted from Clinton’s selection as secretary of state.

Kennedy, the daughter of the late President John F. Kennedy, launched an unusually aggressive campaign to take Clinton’s place. She also hired a team of veteran political advisers, paid a high-profile visit to upstate New York -- modelled on the “listening tour” Clinton conducted in her first run for office – and collected support from powerful backers in New York City and Washington.

However, she stumbled in a series of sessions with reporters, seeming alternately hostile, inarticulate and unprepared. “It reminded me of that musical comedy song, ‘She’s Gone About As Far As She Can Go,’ “ said Norman Adler, a longtime Democratic strategist. “She peaked, and it was down hill.”

But if Kennedy scuffed her once-unsullied image, Paterson may have hurt himself as well. He has been faulted for drawing out the selection process, sending mixed signals and appearing to excessively relish the attention all the anticipation it has gotten him.

”The governor played with it too much, and for too long,” said Joseph Mercurio, a veteran New York political consultant.

”This was a two-month soap opera,” said Douglas Muzzio, a political analyst at Baruch College.

The unusually harsh and personal attacks on Kennedy that emanated from Paterson’s camp may have been an attempt to deflect some of that criticism. But apparently there were second thoughts.

On Thursday evening, Paterson’s office issued a statement in which the governor called Kennedy “a friend” and said no “information gathered during this selection process created a necessity for any candidate to withdraw.”

”Speculation to the contrary is both inaccurate and inappropriate,” the statement added.—Dawn/LA Times-Washington Post News Service