WASHINGTON - Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, struggling to form the words in her first extended interview since the Jan. 8 shooting rampage, said Monday that she will not return to Congress until she is "better."
"No. Better," she said in response to a question about whether she wanted to return to Congress.
As she gestured as if to help her form the words, her husband, Mark Kelly, completed the thought: "She wants to get better."
Then, interviewer Diane Sawyer tried to get Giffords to summarize her mind-set, asking whether she was thinking she would go back to Congress if she got better. "And that's where you're at right now?" Sawyer asked.
"Yes, yes, yes," Giffords replied.
Since the Arizona Democrat made a surprise appearance on the House floor this summer to cast a vote on the debt ceiling increase, there has been wide speculation about her career plans, including whether she would run for the state's open Senate seat.
The ABC interview showed a woman who appeared confident and determined, but still far from able to carry on a detailed conversation. She spoke in a clear voice, but in halting phrases: "Pretty good ... Difficult ... Strong, strong, strong," she replied to questions about how she was feeling and how she'd fared since the shooting.
The broadcast included video Kelly shot documenting Giffords' recovery. The initial days and weeks showed her struggling to understand what had happened and to communicate in the most basic forms. She struggled just to learn how to nod, to raise two fingers.
Eventually, she learned to speak again and smile.
Kelly said he documented her recovery because he knew she would astonish her skeptics. "Gabby Giffords is too tough to let this beat her," he said.
At times, despair set in. One clip shows her sobbing in her therapist's arms at Houston's TIRR Memorial Hermann hospitals.
"Can I tell you something? It is going to get better," her therapist said at one point. "You've come a long way in five weeks."
Giffords is shown becoming more upbeat and smiling more frequently in the ensuing months. She now walks with a limp.
At one point, Kelly used "brave" to describe the word on his mind when he thinks of her - "brave and tough," he said. Then Giffords, looking directly at Kelly, responds almost in a whisper: "Tough, tough, tough" and she kissed his bald head.
The television interview comes as fellow victims of the shooting came to Washington to testify in favor of a gun-control bill. They said that Giffords' appearance represents a major milestone for them as it helps them cope with the trauma they've endured over the past 10 months.
About a dozen survivors and family members are in Washington lobbying for legislation that would extend criminal background checks to all gun sales and enhance the quality of the FBI's criminal background checks.
