Jackson may not return to Congress before election

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CHICAGO, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- The wife of veteran U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., said Wednesday he will return to Congress, but offered no timetable.

Jackson, 47, son of civil rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson, is running for re-election in Illinois' 2nd Congressional District, but has not campaigned since being released from the Mayo Clinic where he was treated for bipolar disorder beginning in June, the Chicago Tribune said Wednesday.

"He's on the (Nov. 6) ballot and he's going to stay on the ballot," Alderwoman Sandi Jackson, his wife, told City Hall reporters. "And I'm looking forward to him coming back to work after his re-election."

Jackson won the Democratic primary last March and is running against two relative political unknowns, the Tribune said. Under election law, the Democratic Party would have until 15 days before the election to select a replacement candidate should Jackson withdraw from the race, something his wife said he is not contemplating.

"No last minute switcheroos," she said. "He would never do that and I would never want that for him."

Sandi Jackson said she hopes her husband would speak to his constituents before Election Day but offered no guarantees.

"I know that he is anxious to do so, but he is also under doctor's orders to stay very calm, very quiet, and he is going to do that," she said.

The Jacksons recently took their Washington townhome off the open market after saying they needed to sell the home to pay for Jackson's treatment and are trying to sell it privately, the newspaper said.

WLS-AM, Chicago, quoted her as saying she wants to buy another Washington-area home -- one with a yard -- either in Maryland or Virginia.