Hillary Clinton has a message for anyone trying to derail Caroline Kennedy’s Senate bid: Back off.

The New York senator has told supporters to stop trashing JFK’s daughter, the woman who very well could take her place in the Senate once Clinton becomes Barack Obama’s secretary of state. There are other well-qualified women in contention, but Kennedy seems to have the lead.

The New York Daily News cited sources who said: “The supporters who said anything critical were rebuked.”

Wow. Well, now we know a little bit more about how Clinton feels about a Kennedy – a member of the iconic family who essentially turned on her and instead supported Obama in the Democratic primary.

From the Daily News:

A senior New York Democrat said Clinton — and the rest of New York’s delegation — is aware Obama is deeply grateful to the Kennedys for their support in the White House.

"She’s got to be part of the team now. She needs to take her cue from the president-elect," the high-ranking source said. "She knows what the reality is about that [Kennedy] name."

Another source said Clinton is so focused on her next job she won’t even engage friends like teachers union President Randi Weingarten who are Kennedy’s rivals for the seat.

(Click here to read wOw’s interview with Weingarten.)

Clinton "is not for or against anyone in this process," the Democrat said. A source close to Kennedy agreed "the criticism of her is not coming from Hillary."

Now, this all doesn’t necessarily mean Clinton has forgiven and forgotten, but just that she doesn’t have time to try to prevent Kennedy from filling her seat.

Meanwhile, Kennedy – who is known for being an extremely private person – may have to come out of her shell a bit more to convince skeptics that she has the experience and credentials to do the job well. She’s heading upstate today for a private meeting with the mayor of Syracuse to try to win over would-be constituents.

The New York Times notes that after years of being largely given a pass by New York’s tabloid press, Kennedy is sure to be scrutinized by reporters who may not be as enchanted with, or intimidated by, the Kennedy presence as reporters of an earlier generation were.

Despite her fiercely private life, The Washington Post says today that several people close to JFK’s daughter say she has long expressed a desire for a more active public life.

"Certainly this year she’s played a very significant role in the presidential campaign, and I think that has very much crystallized her interest in serving," said John Shattuck, chief executive of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library Foundation in Boston, who has worked with her since 2001. "But this is something that’s been a long time coming."