Pataki

I've been surprised that this has gotten almost no coverage outside of the New York press. The aches and pains of every governor isn't national news, but Pataki's been somewhat of a national figure.

Gov. George E. Pataki's ruptured appendix left him more seriously ill than his staff and doctors previously acknowledged, a team of surgeons revealed in a news conference yesterday.

The surgeons, who have been treating the governor at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia hospital in Manhattan for the last week, said for the first time that he had suffered peritonitis and abdominal abscesses — both potentially life-threatening conditions — and fever. They would not predict when he might be able to leave the hospital, but said that it could be as long as two more weeks.