April 06, 2011 3:15 PM
ABC News’ Rick Klein reports:
If Rep. Gabrielle Giffords recovers sufficiently to make the Senate run some of her friends and allies are hoping for, it sounds like she’ll have an enthusiastic supporter in a fellow member of the Arizona congressional delegation.
On ABC’s “Top Line” today, Giffords friend Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., said Giffords would make a “great candidate” if she’s able to run.
“All indications are she's doing great, feels good,” Grijalva told us. “If she is strong enough -- and I think her family and her physicians will tell her that -- she would be a great candidate, if she's strong enough.”
Grijalva said he hopes to visit and speak with Giffords – as other friends and family members have done recently, as she recovers in a Houston hospital – in the coming weeks. She has yet to resume her duties as a House member, but those around her have been quietly talking up the prospect of her running for the Senate seat being vacated by the retiring Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., next year.
On another subject, Grijalva – co-chair of the House Progressive Caucus – said he is likely to vote against a budget deal along the lines now being discussed by congressional leaders and the White House, since he believes the cuts will be too deep.
“We've opposed a lot of those in the past and there is a group of us here – Democrats -- that feel that there are other areas ignored both my Democratic leadership, by the White House, and certainly by the Republicans. And we would be hard-pressed to just blindly go along without having some input.”
Grijalva said he still hopes a government shutdown can be avoided, but added that it’s “more difficult to see a light at the end of the tunnel.”
“While I want to say that I’m optimistic, and to some extent I am, we have adults who want to solve this, we also have a lot of juveniles that want to see this thing go into a crisis,” he said.
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