Stomach bug slows Carter’s campaign

By J. Patrick Coolican (contact)

Saturday, Sept. 9, 2006 | 7:41 a.m.

Jack Carter, Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, has fallen ill with a stomach ailment that has landed him in Summerlin Hospital.

Jay Jones, a spokesman, said there's no cause for alarm, however.

Carter began feeling sick Sunday: "As he continued to have the symptoms of the stomach bug the past couple of days, he was in a condition where he was weakened and dehydrated, and his doctor decided a hospital stay would be best for him."

Jones also said that Carter had been working a rigorous schedule of 12- and 14-hour days and seven-day weeks, which was making recovery more difficult: "The dynamics are very different when you're burning the candle at both ends."

Carter, a businessman and the son of former President Jimmy Carter, has been unable to attend events, including a fundraiser Thursday night. The planned opening of a volunteer office, set for Sunday, was postponed a week.

The illness comes at an inopportune time for Carter, who's challenging the well-funded incumbent, Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev.

Doctors await test results, but "there's no indication it's serious or grave," Jones said.

The problem with getting knocked off the trail is that time is in short supply, said Dan Hart, a Democratic political consultant: "There's no question that time is the one thing you have a limited supply of, and there's no getting it back."

Hart managed the failed gubernatorial campaign of Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson, who had a brief hospitalization during the campaign: "Everybody thought it was monumental, and then nobody remembered it, so it does go away, but it depends on how severe and whether it's recurring or the nature of the illness."

Gary Gray, another Democratic consultant, said the campaign has to stay focused on the task at hand: "Campaigns depend on the candidate, but they also have a momentum of their own. You just keep on doing the things you're doing. Recruit, raise money, identify voters, just keep going."

Both Gray and Hart said the campaign should be as open as possible so supporters and the public aren't in the dark about Carter's health.

Jones said the timing of the illness could have been much worse, such as during the closing days of the campaign or when Carter's father campaigns with him later this month. "Better now than later."