6/2/2008

in

West Virginia Senator Byrd hospitalized Monday night

Steve Ruback

Senator Robert C. Byrd, D-W. Va., was hospitalized late Monday night as a result of feeling sluggish and lethargic, according to the *Los Angeles Times*.  
  
Byrd has been hospitalized three separate times in the past three months, though all three visits have been for different reasons. He was hospitalized twice in March, once for a fall that occurred in his home and the other for a negative reaction that he sustained from an antibiotic.  
  
Byrd, who first entered the Senate 50 years ago in 1958, made a controversial endorsement in April. After Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton was unanimously victorious in his state of West Virginia, Byrd decided to endorse the campaign of her opponent, Barack Obama.  
  
According to the *Times*, there are some in the Senate that believe Byrd may not be physically or mentally strong enough, particularly since the death of his wife two years ago, to maintain his position as the current chair of the Appropriations Committee.