Vice president’s son has mild stroke

PHILADELPHIA – Vice President Joe Biden’s older son, the Delaware attorney general, had a mild stroke Tuesday and was transferred to a Philadelphia hospital, where he was alert and talking with family.

Beau Biden, 41, had been admitted to Christiana Hospital in Newark, Del., on Tuesday morning.

Later in the day he was transferred to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, vice presidential spokeswoman Elizabeth Alexander said. The White House said earlier that he would undergo further observation and examination there.

Biden was expected to recover, his doctor said.

Christiana Hospital’s Dr. Timothy Gardner said Biden was in good spirits and was talking with his relatives. The doctor said in a statement issued through the White House that Biden was fully alert and in stable condition and had full motor and speech skills.

Beau Biden’s spokesman, Jason Miller, had no immediate comment, but the vice president gave a thumbs up sign to reporters as his motorcade left the Philadelphia hospital Tuesday night.

Beau Biden returned last year from a yearlong deployment to Iraq with his Army National Guard unit. He was a captain and military lawyer in the 261st Theater Tactical Signal Brigade.

He had considered running this year for the Senate seat his father held before becoming vice president but decided instead to run for re-election as attorney general.