Carter feeling normal, observation continuing

[October 23, 2010]  CLEVELAND (AP) -- A Cleveland hospital says doctors are recommending additional observation of former President Jimmy Carter after an overnight stay in an Ohio hospital for an upset stomach.

MetroHealth Medical Center spokeswoman Christina Karas said Wednesday that Carter is feeling normal and looks forward to resuming his schedule as soon as possible.

Carter was headed from Atlanta to Cleveland on Tuesday for a book signing when he became ill aboard a Delta Air Lines flight.

Carter spent Tuesday night at MetroHealth and his grandson, Georgia state Sen. Jason Carter, said he was doing fine.

It was not immediately clear if Carter would attend two scheduled events in Washington on Wednesday to promote his book "White House Diary."

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THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE.
AP's earlier story is below.

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CLEVELAND (AP) -- Former President Jimmy Carter planned to resume a trip promoting his new book on Wednesday after an upset stomach developed on a flight to Cleveland landed him in a hospital overnight.

Carter was scheduled to appear at two events in Washington, including one at the Smithsonian Institution, said Kathy Daneman, publicity manager at Farrar, Straus & Giroux, publisher of Carter's "White House Diary."

Book signings in a Cleveland suburb and Durham, N.C., were canceled Tuesday when the 85-year-old Carter fell ill.

Carter's grandson, Georgia state Sen. Jason Carter, said Tuesday his grandfather was doing fine.

"He's definitely resting comfortably and expected to continue his book tour this week," Jason Carter said. "I haven't talked to him, but nobody in the family is concerned."

The former president planned to stay the night at MetroHealth hospital in Cleveland, according to a statement from the Carter Center, an Atlanta-based nonprofit known for its international work on human rights and public health.

"He is fully alert and participating in all decision-making related to his care," hospital spokeswoman Christina Karas said. "The decision to admit him overnight is purely precautionary."

Carter was a passenger on a Delta Air Lines flight from Atlanta to Cleveland when he became ill. After the plane landed, he was taken off by rescue crews, said Jackie Mayo, a spokeswoman at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.

He was wheeled into an emergency room at MetroHealth on a stretcher and later was up and walking around, said Mary Atkins, who had taken her daughter to the hospital for medical treatment and saw Carter from a nearby room.

"He walked by the room and he was saying he was ready to go," she said. "They had Secret Service everywhere."

President Barack Obama called Carter from Air Force One as he traveled from New Mexico to Wisconsin, White House spokesman Bill Burton said. Carter was feeling great, Burton said.

About 500 people had waited in line Tuesday afternoon at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in suburban Lyndhurst, where Carter was scheduled to sign copies of his book. The event was later canceled, as was a Tuesday night appearance at the Regulator Bookshop in Durham, N.C., according to his publisher.

"It's crazy for an 85-year-old guy to fly ... just to sign some books," Regulator Bookshop co-owner John Valentine said. "He's a brave guy. His health is most important."

In the book, Carter said he pursued an overly aggressive agenda as president that may have confused voters and alienated lawmakers. But he said the tipping points that cost him the 1980 election were the Iran hostage crisis and the Democratic primary challenge by U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy.

Carter, a former peanut farmer elected to the White House in 1976, has spent his recent years pursuing peace and human rights, efforts that won him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.

[Associated Press; By MEGHAN BARR]

Associated Press writers Thomas J. Sheeran in Cleveland; Matt Leingang, Jeannie Nuss and JoAnne Viviano in Columbus, Ohio; and Greg Bluestein in Atlanta contributed to this report.

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