It was a surprisingly short day at the office today for state Sen. Dan Swecker. He suffered an apparent migraine headache attack that left him disoriented this morning when he arrived at the state Senate.

“I was driving in today and I got to feeling really weird. It turned out — they say it’s like a migraine headache. Instead of pain you get a little disoriented,’’ Swecker said by telephone early this evening, explaining that he he went to the Providence St. Peter Hospital to be checked out.

After strokes and heart issues were ruled out, Swecker was sent home, where he was recovering. He said he plans to rest and go back to work on Monday when the Senate reconvenes.

Senate Republican Leader Mike Hewitt of Walla Walla said they were told Swecker had a condition called transient global amnesia, which the Mayo Clinic describes as a sudden onset of memory loss. But Swecker said it wasn’t that.

“It’s not memory loss. It kind of disoriented me. You feel like you can’t quite get everything lined up,” he said. “My wife insisted I go into the emergency room because I had the recent heart history.” (He was hospitalized for heart surgery during his 2008 re-election campaign.)

Ironically, the Senate held up a vote on a transportation bill from Friday out of respect for Swecker, who co-authored the budget but was off campus Friday for a pre-scheduled family event that marked his 63rd birthday. Swecker said he offered to cancel his event Friday if needed, but Democratic Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, the transportation chairwoman, went to leadership and got a postponement.

“It was a family event; it was the only day we could get everyone together,” Swecker said.

Today, the Senate went ahead with the vote, passing it on a 41-3 vote. Repubilcan Sen. Mike Carrell of Lakewood was among those voting against it on grounds it has federal money for high-speed rail lines that would go through his community.

Brad Shannon:
The Politics Blog