For obvious reasons she will have a lot of people here who really admired her.

Tubbs Jones, whose mother was a factory worker and father a skycap at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, is proud of achieving a number of "firsts" among black women. She was the first to serve as a common pleas judge in Ohio. She was the first to serve as Cuyahoga County's prosecutor. She was the first to serve as a member of Congress from Ohio, the first to join the House Ways and Means Committee, and the first to chair the Ethics Committee.

How many people have the opportunity to hear the good words said about you when you die?

Hope she's around to chuckle about it.

I'm just gutted. I hope she pulls through although the prognosis isn't very good.

FROM WAPO

Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Ohio) is pushing back hard against the kind of pressure that has come down on Rep. John Lewis (Ga.) and other black Democratic superdelegates who are being pressed to back Obama's candidacy.

"I say shame on anyone who's engaged in that conduct," Tubbs Jones said. "I'm not trying to be a martyr. I think Senator Clinton is the best candidate. And the beauty of the United States of America is you have the right to have your opinion, and I have the right to my opinion."

"I'm not going to succumb to that kind of pressure," she added. "If I change my mind, it will be because Senator Clinton said, 'Stephanie, let's make a move.' "

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FROM CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER- JUNE 2008

Q: Do you think she [Hillary] has kept this going too long?

A: Absolutely not.

Q: Even (by) just a couple days?

A: Imagine you were running for president of the United States, and for 18 months you've been championing your candidacy. You don't just turn around and drop it within hours. She needed time to talk to supporters, talk to contributors. I mean, the network of folks across the country, unfortunately she's been placed in a position to let them read it in the newspaper because someone in a call decided to go out and tell everybody that she's going to suspend her campaign on Friday.

I think that she earned the right to have some time to wade through what was going to happen, get a chance to contact some supporters. She would have liked to have told them personally. Just like when you take a new job and you're going to leave a job, you want to tell your boss, you want to tell whoever it is. I think she earned that right.

Everybody's rushing to have her do something. I don't think there was any rush. Just like I don't believe there's any rush for Barack Obama to choose who his vice presidential candidate will be. I think that after the grueling campaign they both were in, they both were entitled to some time... and actually some time to have a conversation with one another.

We're talking it being in the interest of the party, to talk about how they can work together, whether V.P. or not. They both got 18 million votes. And in order for her to be able to bring with her some of her supporters, she needs some time to understand where he's going to be, what he's going to do, so she can reassure these people -- and by these people I mean her supporters -- that she's had a chance to have a conversation. And this is where I think we can go.

Q: Do you think the supporters are going to go with her?

A: I think some will and some will not.

Q: Do you think it's going to take some time to heal that wound first?

A: Oh, absolutely. And by people rushing people to do things, it's as important that Sen. Clinton talks to her people to help Sen. Obama, but it's just as important for Sen Obama to talk to his people about putting out a welcome mat.

There is no way he's going to win this election without her support and support of people who voted for her. It ain't going to happen.

Q: Do you think it was a mistake for her not to more formally acknowledge Obama's victory the other night?

A: No.

Q: Why not?

A: She's got 18 million people who support her. She said, 'Congratulations.' What more do people want from her?

Q: She never spoke of him as the presumptive nominee. And she was introduced by Terry McAuliffe as the next president of the United States.

A: Oh, God, you all are lost in that, huh? I thought it was a great rally. I didn't see anything wrong with Terry McAuliffe's introduction and I didn't see anything wrong with her speech.

Again, she got 18 million supporters who don't turn off like a light bulb. And just as she's going to take Saturday and say to the world she's going to endorse Barack Obama. She needed time to bring her people. And I think she earned the right to have that time.

But like brain aneurysms by the time there are symptoms, it is often too late.  Yes, some people can and have been saved but not so in this case.

Statement of Former President William J. Clinton, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Chelsea Clinton on the Passing of Chairwoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones

There are few words to express the shock we feel at this time. Our deepest condolences are with Stephanie's son, Mervyn, her family, and her many loved ones, friends, and supporters.

Stephanie's friendship meant the world to us, a friendship that deepened through every trial and challenge. We could always count on her to be a shoulder on which to lean, an ear to bend, a voice to reassure. Over the course of many years, with many ups and many downs, Stephanie was right by our side-unwavering, indefatigable.

It was that fighting spirit-safely stowed behind her disarming smile, backed by so much integrity and fiery intelligence-that allowed Stephanie to rise from modest beginnings, to succeed in public service, to become a one-woman force for progress in our country.

All of us who were lucky to know her and love her can only hope now to live like her-to be as passionate, loyal, hard charging, and joyful in life's pursuits.

Stephanie was one of a kind. We will miss our friend always.

Congresswoman Jones was one of Hillary's most loyal supporters and stuck through thick and thin with, and for her.

She was at the RBC Meeting on May 31 and at her Campaign suspension speech on June 6.

I was so worried this morning when her office issued no updates.  Damn, this is so, so sad.

John Kerry better get his Obama-endorsing ass out there and make a public statement because she campaigned SO hard for him - I can still see her on C-SPAN going   "Vaness-AHH   KEHHRYY!" at the rallies.  How lucky he was.

11 minutes ago
UPDATE: US Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, 58, dies
Akron Beacon Journal, OH -Stephanie Tubbs Jones, Ohio's first black woman to serve in Congress, died today after being hospitalized for an aneurysm. She was 58.