Obama Inaugurated, Ex-Klansman Collapses

An hour after the inauguration of America's first black president, the Senate's only former Exalted Cyclops of the Ku Klux Klan, Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) collapses. Coincidence?

Sen Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), according to CNN, was also taken to the hospital and is "responding well" to treatment. Updates and details at USA Today's Obama blog:

Senators Edward Kennedy and Robert Byrd fell ill a short time ago at the Capitol luncheon where President Obama and Vice President Biden are being honored, CNN and other news media are reporting.