Giffords vows to return to Congress

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) has vowed to return to Congress, according to a passage in an upcoming book her husband wrote about her recovery from the January assassination attempt.

"I will get stronger. I will return," Giffords wrote in Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope, according to an advance copy obtained by The Associated Press. The book is scheduled for release Nov. 15.

While Giffords's husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, wrote the book, the vow came during the one-page final chapter, "Gabby's Voice," which Giffords wrote herself in a series of short sentences.

In January, a fired on Giffords and others outside a grocery store in Tucson, Ariz., killing six and wounding 12 others. Giffords was shot in the head and has had to relearn basic skills as part of her rehabilitation.

Absent from Giffords's vow was any indication of whether she will run for reelection to her seat in the House or instead try for the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.).

Before the shooting, Giffords had been considered Democrats' best shot at taking that Senate seat, and only one Democrat, former state party chairman Don Bivens, has entered the primary.

But with questions lingering about Giffords's ability to perform at the same level she did before the shooting, most have assumed that if she returned to Congress, it would be in the House.

Republicans have said that if Giffords runs again for her House seat, they will not contest the race, virtually guaranteeing Giffords a fourth term.

In the forthcoming book, Kelly writes that he tried repeatedly to tell Giffords what had happened during the shooting, according to the AP. But she didn't understand the situation fully until March 12 — more than two months after the fact.

"Shot. Shocked. Scary," Giffords told her husband about her recollection of the incident.

Kelly writes that Giffords moaned and cried, stricken by grief, when he told her that Gabe Zimmerman, her former staffer, had been killed in the shooting.

Kelly also describes the laborious and emotional recovery process, including a visit from President George H. W. Bush. He writes that Giffords recited the U.S. Constitution and Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech as part of her process of relearning how to speak.

---