Spokeswoman: Bob Dole hospitalized for low blood pressure

TOPEKA, Kan. – A spokeswoman says former Republican presidential candidate and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole is hospitalized for low blood pressure.

Dole spokeswoman Marion Watkins said in an email Friday that the 94-year-old former Kansas senator has been hospitalized since Sept. 13 at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center outside Washington, D.C.

She says he was admitted after a routine checkup. She says his low blood pressure is being treated with medication.

Dole’s wife, former North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole, tweeted a request for prayers. He then tweeted that he hopes to be home in a few days, “sipping a cosmo.”

Dole served in Congress for 35 years. He left the Senate in 1996 for his campaign against President Bill Clinton. Congress recently voted to award him a Congressional Gold Medal.

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Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to show that Dole served 35 years in Congress, not the U.S. Senate, serving part of that time in the House.