I just heard that Indiana state employees were told O"'Bannon has died.

[ignatius]

This is sad news indeed.

[JohnKleeb]

1. thats sad

Indiana DUers my symapthies.

[Hawkeye-X]

2. Ouch

My sympathies to O'Bannon and his family.

The state senate has to invoke the Indiana Constitution to transfer the power to Lt. Governor Kernan (Sorry if I misspelled his name, I was just reading the other O'Bannon thread).

Hawkeye-X

[diplomats]

4. May God rest his soul

[davidinalameda]

3. he's dead?

oh gods

wow

[JitterbugPerfume]

9. sad day

for we Hoosiers

[newsguyatl]

5. how sad

my sympathies to any indiana du'ers here :-(

[IndianaGreen]

6. Nothing here yet on TV

I hope this is a false report, but the prognosis was very grim to begin with.

[meegbear]

10. or cnn.com, msnbc.com or faux ...

My sympathies to all my Indiana brethren if true.

[RamboLiberal]

7. My sympathies to Indiana and his family

sad.

[CMT]

8. Very Sad

from what I've heard he was a good governor and decent man.

[wryter2000]

11. How very sad.

Rest in peace.

[ignatius]

12. I have not seen confirmation as of yet, this came from

a co-worker whose sister works at the state office.

[IndianaGreen]

16. I think this could be true

O'Bannon, 73, was unconscious and unresponsive when he was taken from the Palmer House Hilton Hotel in downtown Chicago to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, said spokeswoman Kelly Sullivan.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/09/08/obannon/index.html

O'Bannon was a decent human being. He will be mourned by Republicans and Democrats alike. My thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Judy (whom he met on a blind date according to the CNN story above), his children and family.

[liberalnurse]

26. They are probably waiting for the family to get there first.

Surgery is not a typical treatment for a stroke.....

[prolesunited]

13. Any confirmation anywhere yet?

It certainly looked grim this morning.

[Hawkeye-X]

15. Just checked the usual pundit pages

Just mention that O'Bannon is undergoing surgery in Chicago.

Hawkeye-X

[bloom]

14. :- (

:-(

[blueseas]

17. Sad news

Condolences to his family :(

[prolesunited]

18. Last statement released on Web site

Governor Frank O'Bannon is undergoing surgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago after being stricken in his hotel room. The governor was in Chicago since Sunday to attend the U.S. Midwest-Japan Conference, and was scheduled to offer welcoming remarks this morning.

The emergency room physician, Patrick Connor, M.D., has issued a prepared statement that said O'Bannon was brought to the hospital's emergency department at about 9:30 a.m. CST. He was unconscious and non-responsive, and was determined to be suffering from a cerebral hemorrhage.

The governor was taken into surgery at approximately 11 a.m. CST, according to hospital spokesperson Kelly Sullivan, and is expected to remain in surgery for the next several hours.

Because the governor is undergoing surgery, his staff and that of Lieutenant Governor Joe Kernan have been researching how Kernan should assume the role of acting governor. Article 5, Section 10, of the Indiana Constitution makes a provision for this to occur if the governor is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.

If the governor is not able to voluntarily hand over his authority, the constitution provides that the speaker of the House and the Senate president pro tem may give a written statement to the Indiana Supreme Court indicating that the governor is unable to discharge his powers and duties. The high court has 48 hours to determine that the governor is unable to discharge his powers and duties and, if so, the lieutenant governor assumes responsibility as acting governor.

More information will be released as it becomes available.

http://www.in.gov/serv/presscal?PF=gov&Clist=4&Elist=73430

[alonso_quijano]

19. I hope it's not true

.

[BraveDave]

20. Latest from Indy.

O'Bannon still in surgery.

[Rich Hunt]

21. keep us posted

I'm in Chicago but live five houses from the state line. I'm trying to find a reliable site that has updates, but somehow I don't think that will be WJOB (LOL!).

This would be very, very sad and sudden. Please let it not be true.

Thanks to people for keeping us posted.

[IndianaGreen]

22. WISH-TV is now reporting that Lt. Gov. Kernan is acting Governor

Nothing yet about O'Bannon's current condition. Decision expected later today on making Kernan Governor, a complicated Constitutional procedure when the Governor is incapacitated.

Nothing about death.

[Nlighten1]

24. Kernan

Is from South Bend. A bunch of us up here are still pissed off at him for bringing in the College Football Hall of Fame. I'm gonna miss O'Bannon though.

[dolstein]

29. Does this help the Democrats?

I don't want to sound morbid or anything, but lord knows the Republicans would be thinking about this if it had been a Republican governor.

O'Bannon couldn't have run for reelection in 2004, and was probably too old to run for the senate. I would presume that Kernan, if he's acting governor, is not likely to face a primary challenge. And it will probably be harder for Mitch Daniels, the likely Republican nominee (and arguably the worst budget director in the history of the Republic) to attack the policies of the O'Bannon administration.

[David__77]

35. Though morbid, I did look into this.

Kernan had said he would not run for governor. The Democratic favorite was former DNC head Joe Andrew. I could imagine a scenario in which Kernan would continue as governor and run for reelection, with Andrew given other options--perhaps in Congress? The GOP was happy when Kernan announced he would not run, so I imagine that he would be formidable as an incumbant.

[goobergunch]

23. If true, extremely sad

;(

This is a sad day for Indiana and the entire country. And it makes me :puke: that CNN et al. are practically ignoring this story.

I GoogleNewsed this...no confirmation yet. I hope he survives.

[CO Liberal]

25. No Word Yet on CNN Or Fox Web Pages

They both report that he's in surgery.

[Hawkeye-X]

27. MSRNC too..

No report either. Just surgery.

[valphoosier]

28. Acting Governor...

I'm not sure that Kernan can be made acting Governor this quickly.

As a former state employee, and as a Hoosier in general, I hope this rumor of O'Bannon dying is not true. He, truly, is a great American.

[BraveDave]

30. After a petition is filed...

...the high court has 48 hours to determine that the governor is unable to discharge his powers and duties and, if so, the lieutenant governor assumes responsibility as acting governor.

[Khephra]

31. I hope he's ok

He seems like a nice man. I haven't followed him closely enough to know if that's true or not though.

[ewagner]

32. If the report proves true

My deepest sympathies to my Indiana DU friends and to his family.

[dolstein]

33. As of 4 minutes ago, AP was still saying he's in surgery

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20030908_1678.html

[BraveDave]

34. The latest from Indy.

News conference locally said that O'Bannon is out of surgery. Hospital will have press conference in about 15 minutes.

[Rick Myers]

36. As of 5:30 pm CDT Gov. O'Bannon is out of surgery in critical condition

Details here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=300471


Rick Myers
DU Mod

[Whoa_Nelly]

37. Just did a news search

No news that he died, just that he's critical still from surgery.

http://www.wcpo.com/news/2003/local/09/08/obannon2.html

on edit:
...and 5 minutes ago:
http://www.pal-item.com/news/updates/877.html

[ignatius]

38. I am so sorry for this premature post. My co-worker's sister

said that a brief statement was read to them(at the state office) that he had passed away.

If I had to be wrong about something, I am glad that it was this and that he is still alive, although in critical condition.