Jimmy Carter hospitalized for 'stomach bug'

Georgia state Sen. Jason Carter said on his Facebook page Tuesday afternoon that his 85-year-old grandfather “got a stomach bug” but that “he is fine.”

“He’s definitely resting comfortably and expected to continue his book tour this week,” Jason Carter said. “I haven’t talked to him, but nobody in the family is concerned.”

The 39th president of the United States fell ill on a Delta Airlines flight from Atlanta to Cleveland Tuesday morning and was taken to MetroHealth Hospital for observation, Deanna Congileo, press secretary for Carter's humanitarian organization, The Carter Center, said.

Carter was scheduled to sign about 500 copies of his new book, “White House Diary” in suburban Cleveland on Tuesday afternoon before flying to Durham for a book signing for 1,000 people at The Regulator Bookshop at 7 p.m.

Whether Carter, who will be 86 on Friday, was to keep his Durham schedule changed throughout the day.

Tom Campbell, who owns The Regulator, said Carter's staff initially notified him to tell him the appearance was still on. By 3 p.m., though, Campbell said, Secret Service staff and representatives had canceled the appearance.

Campbell said the book signing will be rescheduled, although he's not sure for when.

"Things happen – a lot worse than this could happen, and hopefully it's just a little stomach bug for him," Campbell said. "It's not the end of the world – a stomach bug and a postponed book signing."

Carter expected to continue the book tour later this week and was next scheduled to appear at two events in Washington, D.C., including one at the Smithsonian Institution, said Kathy Daneman, publicity manager at publisher Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

"White House Diary" is a compilation of Carter's thoughts and observations while in office. He wrote that he decided to publish the diary because it “may be my last chance to offer an assessment of my time in the White House.”

In the book, Carter wrote that he pursued an overly aggressive agenda as president that may have confused voters and alienated lawmakers. But he said the tipping points that cost him the 1980 election were the Iran hostage crisis and the Democratic primary challenge by U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy.

A former peanut farmer elected to the White House in 1976, Carter has spent his recent years pursuing peace and human rights, efforts that won him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.

Carter was last in the Triangle two years ago promoting his book, "A Remarkable Mother," a tribute to his late mother, whom he credits for inspiring him to work as a humanitarian and peace activist after his presidency.