Sen. Clinton Faints During Speech

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) fainted while giving a speech Monday in Buffalo, N.Y., and her office said it was because of a stomach virus she may have contracted over the weekend.

Clinton, 57, collapsed shortly after telling the audience at Buffalo’s private Saturn Club that she felt ill. The club’s general manager told Associated Press that Clinton walked out of the club on her own, but she did not complete her remarks on Social Security.

“Sen. Clinton is suffering from a stomach virus,” her press secretary, Philippe Reines, said in a written statement.

“She felt weak, needed to sit down, and then fainted briefly. She received immediate medical attention at the site, and is now proceeding with her schedule as planned,” the statement said.

During an editorial board meeting at the Buffalo News on Monday morning, Clinton said she and some staff members became ill at a weekend retreat in Westchester County, said Gerald Goldberg, editor of the paper’s editorial page.

“We’re not sure whether she said stomach virus or not, but she said she got sick, throwing-up-in-middle-of-night kind of sick,” he said. Clinton did not appear to be ill during the meeting, he said.

Later in the day, she spoke about healthcare to about 600 people at Canisius College.

“She was absolutely terrific, and it was the best I heard her speak in about 10 years,” said John J. LaFalce, a former New York Democratic congressman who teaches at the college. He said Clinton stood throughout her 40-minute speech and answered questions without mentioning her illness.

“We gave her the option of sitting and she said, ‘Let’s see how it goes,’ ” LaFalce said.