She's not Miss Popularity

Kirsten Gillibrand is a hard-charger who has risen far and fast -- but her aggressiveness hasn't endeared her to fellow House members -- and gun control advocate Carolyn McCarthy isn't the only one.

"Nobody really likes her," said one New York City-area member, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"She's smart and capable but she's rubbed people the wrong the way," said another.

"I think she's going to get a serious primary in 2010," opined a longtime state Democratic operative who supports Gillibrand.

(Several members, we are told are skipping today's Albany announcement, citing other commitments. The include McCarthy, Bronx Rep. Jose Serrano and Anthony Weiner, who is attending a long-scheduled event at the Statue of Liberty.)

And what will Mike Bloomberg, who has threatened to target members of Congress who don't back his gun control efforts, say about vehemently pro-gun Gillibrand?

Gillibrand didn't make any friends late last year when she tried to leap-frog up the seniority ladder, trying to take a vacant seat on the Ways and Means Committee that had been slated for Buffalo-area Rep. Brian Higgins.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was peeved at Gillibrand over the move, but the two have reportedly mended fences -- and the speaker delivered a smooch to Gillibrand during her swearing-in ceremony earlier this month.

Some in House leadership have also fretted about losing Gillibrand's district -- which has an 80,000-Republican advantage.

But two key New Yorkers on the Hill are very big fans: Hillary Clinton, whose political team helped run Gillibrand's 2006 campaign against Republican John Sweeney, and Charles Schumer, who has consulted with Paterson often on his pick.

Lower down the totem pole, not so much. In December, before Caroline Kennedy threw her hat in the ring, several of Gillibrand's competitors circulated E-mails referring to her NRA endorsement -- and amicus brief in support of the Supreme Court's repeal of the District of Columbia's handgun ban.

McCarthy, whose husband was murdered and son maimed by a crazed gunman on a Long Island commuter train in 1993, told the Times she was considering a Cindy Sheehan-type primary challenge to Gillibrand two years from now (she didn't repeat that to us).

But McCarthy, who is widely respected, even loved, by her fellow members, has been an erratic, unenthusiastic fundraiser. In fact, she got a serious scare last year when her no-name GOP opponent nearly out-raised her during one reporting period.

Moreover, Schumer's not-so-secret advocacy of Gillibrand represents his first serious foray into New York queenmaking. The senior senator, his party's top money man, has been loath to entangle himself in Democratic primaries - but his support of Gillibrand changes everything -- and her fate now is now intertwined with his reputation.

Glenn Thrush is senior staff writer at Politico Magazine.