DENVER - AUGUST 25: U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) speaks during day one of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the Pepsi Center August 25, 2008 in Denver, Colorado. The DNC, where U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) will be officially nominated as the Democratic candidate for U.S. president, starts today and finishes August 28th. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Photo: Chip Somodevilla/2008 Getty Images
Representative Jesse Jackson Jr.’s office initially said he’d taken a medical leave from the House owing to “exhaustion,” but today the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, announced that it’s been treating him for bipolar II disorder. The statement confirmed his wife’s claim that the condition could be related to weight loss surgery Jackson underwent in 2004. Jackson’s father, Reverend Jesse Jackson, has said he has no plans to step down, and the clinic says he’s “responding well to the treatment and regaining his strength.”
