Has Chuck Schumer been a muckety- muck in the US Senate for so long that he’s forgotten how he got there in the first place?

Back in 1998, New York’s now-powerful senior senator fought a bruising four-way Democratic primary for the right to challenge Republican Al D’Amato.

Turned out, Chuck could handle it.

More to the point, New York Democrats played a real role in determining who would face then-Sen. Pot-hole. Think of it as democracy in action.

But New Yorkers likely will never get a similar look at Schumer’s unelected, underwhelming, crafted-from-whole-cloth sock puppet, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.

Schumer had pretty much cleared the 2010 primary field for Gillibrand — save for Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who’d all but thrown her hat in the ring.

Alas, Maloney yesterday announced she won’t challenge Gillibrand after all — ostensibly because her work in the House is just too important.

Yeah, right.

Schumer, sick of laboring in the shadow of Sen. Hillary Clinton, had engineered the elevation-by-appointment of Gillibrand — an untested, one-term congresswoman from rural Columbia County.

Chuck to New York: “She’s good for me — if not for thee!”

Gillibrand abandoned her formerly moderate positions with distressing alacrity as Schumer set about scaring off the competition.

A call from the White House was enough to get LI Rep. Steve Israel to back down — while Schumer muscled Maloney’s supporters.

Now Gillibrand, who stands for nothing, stands alone — at least among the Democrats. A pity, that.