Zell Miller falls ill during speech in Gainesville

<p>Former Sen. Zell Miller fell ill while giving a speech in Gainesville Thursday night and was taken to a hospital emergency room. His wife said he had flu-like symptoms.</p><p>Miller, 73, excused himself from the stage at a banquet for the Gainesville Care Center at the Georgia Mountains Center and was transported to Northeast Georgia Medical Center.</p><p>He was admitted to the emergency room and was in stable condition, according to nursing supervisor Tammy Harbison. She said she did not know what made Miller ill.</p><p>Miller's wife, Shirley, was at the hospital and released a statement about an hour later saying he was feeling better.</p><p>"He has had flu-like symptoms for a couple of days, and he would not stay in bed," she said. "He feels like going home. He's just waiting for the doctor's approval."</p><p>Hospital spokeswoman Cathy Bowers said later that Miller was alert and cracking jokes. He was likely to be kept overnight for observation.</p><p>Miller, a Democrat who riled fellow party members last year by his avid support for President Bush's re-election, left the Senate in January. He was replaced by former U.S. Rep. Johnny Isakson, a Republican.</p><p>Miller, a one-time college history professor, was Georgia's governor from 1991 to 1999. He was tapped in 2000 to fill the unexpired term of the late Sen. Paul Coverdell and elected the same year to the balance of the term. He did not seek re-election.</p><p>The Democrat, who gave a fiery keynote speech during last year's national Republican convention, is popular on the conservative speeking tour. In March, he told Liberty University students Wednesday it was his change in religion, not politics, that had impacted his life the most.</p>