Talk of Giffords' political future heats up - WALB.com, Albany News, Weather, Sports

Talk of Giffords' political future heats up

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By Michael Truelsen - email

The continual news that Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is making near a near-miraculous recovery after being shot in the head Jan. 8 has increased talk about her political future.

Friends and colleagues of Giffords are making sure that her political career is keeping pace with her physical rehabilitation.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N. Y.) have planned a March fund raiser that could fill Giffords' campaign coffers for a 2012 re-election campaign.

"We want to make sure that when she does come back, she's not starting from scratch," Wasserman Schultz told the New York Times. She said wants to help  Giffords be in the "strongest possible position to run for re-election."

But the efforts also could held Giffords if she decides to take a run at the Senate in the wake of the announced retirement of Sen. Jon Kyl.

"It's something that she talked about, but not something that she talked about in any great detail," Wasserman Schultz said. "When she does come back, she will go through the same process that everyone who considers running for higher office does."

The Arizona Democratic Party chairman, Andrei Cherny, told The Washington Post that "it goes without saying that even before the attack, she was at the top of everyone's list."