Giffords for Senate?

Senator Jon Kyl’s (R-AZ) announcement today that he will not run for reelection in 2012 set off rampant speculation as to who will compete to replace him. One of the often mentioned names is Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ). Almost unthinkable four weeks ago in the immediate aftermath of the shooting rampage that left six dead and the Congresswoman critically injured with a gunshot wound to the head, her miraculous recovery to date continues to spur optimism about her future.

Earlier this week, Politico ran a long article about Rep. Giffords and her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly. The article revealed that Rep. Giffords now is eating three meals a day and on Monday was able to speak, asking for toast for breakfast. Other news stories quote her close friend Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) as confirming that Rep. Giffords did in fact verbalize the word toast and hinted it was not the first time she had spoken since the shooting. Her ability to speak is viewed as another milestone in her recovery. Kelly declined to answer reporters’ questions last week as to whether she was able to speak or not.

Media reports on the day of the shooting very incorrectly stated that she had died. Today, just four weeks later, there is speculation that she may run for the Senate. She is currently at the TIRR Memorial Hermann rehabilitation hospital in Houston. Kelly calls her rehabilitation a “marathon” and clearly did not want to raise expectations too high at his press conference last week announcing that he was resuming his duties as commander of the STS-134 shuttle mission. Nonetheless, he enthusiastically predicted that she will be at Kennedy Space Center to watch his April 19 launch.