Indiana governor collapses in Chicago

Associated Press ^ | 09-08-03

[commish]

It is true it is not correct behavior, but I was just thinking how different Republicans act when they hear of critical or death situations of their rivals compaired to what would be being said at DU if it had been a Republican in this situation. On the whole look at how many prayer request and best wishes there have been in all of the threads on this subject. To me it is amazing how few jokes and nasty comments have come from the Dem rivals.

I would agree - I fully expect their to be an all out festival atmosphere and News Years eve Party mentality over at DU when Ronaldus Magnus finally passes.

[rmlew]

Between the obvious vascular damage, the hematoma (which causes pressure that kills part of the brain, and the poor oxygenation of other areas, a cerebral hermorage is a real problem.
If we had been treated immediately, the prospects for recovery would be far greater. If the incident occured last night, he will not make a full recovery. Even after the surgery, he will be in a coma for a period. He will probably have clotting issues which could lead to a stroke or embolism.
Assuming that he survives the next 24 hours, I still doubt he will return to office.

[California74]

Any reason why they couldn't go get a master key, or is this the way the housecleaners enter the rooms? "

That's a good question. My assumption is that they were in too much of a hurry to get in there to wait for the master key to arrive.

[Dog Gone]

But they wouldn't even have known for certain that he was in the room. I think this might well be creative writing by the reporter.

[BillyBoy]

Illinois has an incredibly stupid system where you can vote for whoever you want for Lt. Governor in the PRIMARY election, but you have to elect the pair as a team in the GENERAL election. (i.e. whichever "Rs" win the Governor and Lt. Governor nomination are automatically paired together, even if they tagged along with someone else in the primary)

[California74]

Well, he is the Governor. I'd hope they would know for certain where he was. I mean, he'd need security or at least hotel personnel with him if he were to leave the hotel room.

[anoldafvet]

The Lieutenant Governor is Joe Kernan (D), who is a former Vietnam P.O.W. While I did not agree with his politics while I lived there (8 years), I do agree he is a gentleman and a nice guy. Incidentally, Joe Kernan also fits in that category. My prayers are with him and his family.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Hey, at least you guys have a SAY in other statewide offices. In Tennessee, you only have a say on the Governorship. Lieutenant-Governor is a State Senator elected from within that body (and we've had the same person serving in that role, a DINO, since 1971, the longest serving Lieutenant-Governor of any state in U.S. history), and most of the other offices are elected from within the legislature (which is gerrymandered 'Rat despite the GOP now clearly getting a majority of the vote), assuring a neverending racket of 'Rat hacks in these offices (no Republican has served in any position other than Governor and Adjutant-General since the 19th Century). The worst of all is the Attorney-General position. The Supreme Court, which is selected by a body of leftist trial lawyers (and it doesn't matter whether or not they are retained in an election, since they don't face an opponent, they are merely replaced by another leftist jurist regardless of who the Governor is, who is forced to pick from the trial lawyers' nutty choices. If the Governor balks, the trial lawyers group will choose for him), "elects" the Attorney-General, who is beholden to the fringe on the state Supreme Court. We've had a string of party hacks occupying the job, the last of whom left his job to go work for Gore's '00 Presidential campaign. A total joke. :-(

[Dog Gone]

The AP has a different take on what happened.

O'Bannon's wife and daughter, Jennifer, arrived at the hospital early Monday afternoon, along with several staff members. His other adult children were en route, Sullivan said.

She said O'Bannon had arranged to meet with a staffer early Monday morning before the conference.

"When the staffer could not reach him by phone after several attempts, he had hotel security open the room and they found him unconscious" around 8:30 a.m. or 9 a.m., Sullivan said.

She said she did not know how long the governor had been unconscious, or if he was found in bed or on the hotel room floor.

[Miss Marple]

I just returned from errands. He is still in surgery.

Kernan has returned to Indianapolis and the radio here is saying they are researching procedure for transfer of power in case the governor does not survive the surgery.

I am trying to remember my Indiana history from 8th grade, but I don't believe we have ever had a governor die in office since we became a state in 1816.

[California74]

Aha! Well I guess it could have happened either way. Maybe he had employed that chain lock or similar device you can use in hotel rooms to make sure housecleaning doesn't barge in (they can only open the door partway)- and therefore even after opening with the master key, they still had to break down the door to get thru that additional, inside lock.

[fieldmarshaldj]

"I am trying to remember my Indiana history from 8th grade, but I don't believe we have ever had a governor die in office since we became a state in 1816."

Indiana has had 3 die in office. Democrats Ashbel Parsons Willard in 1860 (at age 39) and James Douglas Williams in 1880 (age 72) and Republican Alvin Peterson Hovey in 1891 (age 70). Also, GOP Gov. James Atwell Mount died 2 days after leaving office in 1901 at 57.

[Dog Gone]

That sounds entirely plausible to me.

[John O]

Who becomes LT Gov if Kernan becomes Gov?

[smiley]

The best commercial I saw when he was running against MacIntosh was the one where he had his grand kids in a country setting. The last segment of the political ad had his youngest granddaughter running to grab his hand and saying..."Come on Gran'paw...let's go home...".....

God Bless him and his family.

[Miss Marple]

Well, that just goes to show you I don't remember as much from the 8th grade as I thought.

Thanks for the information!

[xusafflyer]

As a new Hoosier that just escaped Kalifornia, I knew that many people disagreed with this governor but he was still respected as a decent man. I will take these Indiana democrats over the Left Coast any day. These folks "generally" want to actually help rather than push some crazy Marxist/Racist agenda ala Gumby/Bustamonte.

I hope he pulls through the surgery and recovers.

[Onelifetogive]

Regardless of the jerks on this thread, O'Bannon is a nice guy and should be prayed for.

Exactly...We should make sure people are "nice" before we pray for them...

[fieldmarshaldj]

Sure thing. It might also be noted that O'Bannon is the oldest person ever elected to serve as Governor in IN history, too, so that's one thing not going in his favor. The next oldest was the aforementioned Gov. James Douglas Williams, not counting Territorial interim acting Gov. John Gibson, who was 72 when he took over in 1812 when William Henry Harrison stepped down.

[Miss Marple]

Well, you should know that is not what I meant. I shouldn't have coupled those two thoughts in the same sentence. He IS a nice guy. We SHOULD pray for him as he is a fellow human being.