Gabrielle Giffords Still Weighing 2012 Bid

Reuters
John Hudson 4,455 Views Aug 2, 2011

Update:  A spokeswoman for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords tells The Washington Post that the Arizona congresswoman has not decided whether she will run for re-election in 2012 yet. An earlier tweet sent out by CBS News White House correspondent Norah O'Donnell stated that CBS News had broke news that Giffords was "running for re-election." DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz told CBS News this morning that "We are confident that she is going to come back to help us full time” but noted that Giffords “still has a long way to go in her recovery.”

Following her emotional return to the House of Representatives last night to vote in support of the debt deal, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords announced on The Early Show this morning that she will run for re-election in Arizona. The show promptly tweeted the news. The recovery of the 41-year-old representative from Tucson following her gunshot wound by crazed shooter Jared Lee Loughner in January has been closely watched. She was released from the hospital five months after the shooting, staging what appears to be a miraculous recovery. Explaining her vote last night, Giffords said in a statement "I had to be here for this vote. I could not take the chance that my absence could crash our economy."

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