Carnahan receives pacemaker

~ Former U.S. Senator expected to be released today from weekend surgery.

ST. LOUIS -- Former Democratic U.S. Sen. Jean Carnahan is recovering after receiving a pacemaker, a spokesman for the Carnahan family said Monday.

Carnahan, 71, had the pacemaker implanted over the weekend at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, spokesman Tony Wyche said. She is expected to be released today.

Wyche said he didn't have any information about Mrs. Carnahan's condition.

Jean Carnahan is the widow of former two-term Gov. Mel Carnahan. He died in a plane crash just weeks before he was scheduled to face Republican incumbent Sen. John Ashcroft in the November 2000 general election.

Mel Carnahan won anyway, and his wife was appointed to fill the vacancy in the Senate. She ran against Republican Jim Talent in a special election in 2002 and lost.

The Carnahans' daughter, Robin, is Missouri's secretary of state.

Their son, Russ, is a congressman from St. Louis. Like their parents, both are Democrats.

Glenn Campbell, a spokesman for Russ Carnahan, said Jean Carnahan "is doing fine. I know he [Russ Carnahan] has been with her during the course of this."

A spokesman for Robin Carnahan said he had no additional information on the procedure.

A pacemaker is a battery-powered implantable device that electrically stimulates the heart to contract and pump blood throughout the body.