Suicidal, electroshock treatment, related substance use treatment.

Quite a range of possibilities.

The bigger question is, why no transparency, no communication until he returned to Washington?

I guess what I keep coming back to is that that response to the sort of intensive intervention for major depression offered in a hospital setting takes a hell of a lot less time than four months. My mother was hospitalized for a couple weeks and the improvement was marked over that time.

Of course, my personal experience means little, but my head keeps going back to "four months??"

Remember what happened to Thomas Eagleton when he announced his mental challenges? Including electroshock therapy. He had to step aside as a vice presidential candidate.

First, I'm sorry you suffered from depression. I never understood it until I had a friend who had it. I also am now dealing with someone in a work situation who has it. I'm not saying I understand it now, but at least I have a glimpse of how paralyzing it can be.

I think of Jamie Raskin and his son every time I see Jamie on television.

My purpose in commenting is to tell you that the story is not being accepted in the NJ groups with which I'm associated, meaning my Indivisible group and another Dem group in the neighboring town. The consensus is it doesn't add up, kind of what you explained in your post.

It seems you're not the only one who is thinking this way. It seems you have some very applicable experience that points out the deficiencies in this story. Until you posted, I had not thought of these peculiarities. The one about the family disappearing is particularly odd.

There are, however, people who live in that district that are saying they think people in those towns (Westfield, New Providence, Murray Hill, etc.) will still vote for him. According to one person, there's already a campaign sign for him on someone's lawn.

If I were a voter cheated out of four months of votes representing me, I would not be so forgiving.

To summarize, though, most people think this is not the real story. There's something else going on that they are covering up.

Glad to hear others have a similar gut feeling about this "not adding up."

Westfield is a generally Republican town, but in 1996, we elected the first Democratic mayor since 1909, so it's not as entrenched as one may think. A couple years after I left, they elected Shelley Brindle. And now they have Jeremy Berman.

As far as NJ-7th, Tom Kean, Jr. wins way too many votes on the reputation of his father as Governor in the 80's. He may pull it out on that reflected reputation again, but I'm not so sure. This is a great year of opportunity for Dems and I've been plugging Rebecca Bennett from afar every chance I get.

NJ-7th was VERY competitive until 2001, when they shifted reliably Democratic strongholds into the 12th district and removed Plainfield from the 7th. We still worked like hell and came close with Linda Stender in 2006.

They made matters worse by making it more Republican in 2011.

But even with that, Tom Malinowski was able to pull off a win. Another round of redistricting to lean more Republican in 2021 gave Tom Kean the edge.

It's an uphill battle, but I think Rebecca Bennett has a real shot.

And I would be over the moon if she pulls it off. It would just show that, try as they might to make it a "safe" Republican seat, people in NJ aren't complete idiots.

Bennett is worth fighting for. Make a case for her to anyone who may have written her off!!

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/duforrebecca-bennett-nj26/

Great interview interview with Simon Rosenberg.

explaining his absence.

That is all

Few people have the option of disappearing from their life and work.

I suspect it was rehab. Perhaps psych holds after, idk.

If he was in treatment that long, I would expect them to have used some pretty heavy duty measures like electroshock, etc.