Republican Party chairman Lee Atwater, 39, will undergo treatment for a benign growth on the right side of his brain, and his doctor says he should be back at work next week.
"No surgery is planned, and we expect no difficulty with followup treatments," Dr. Edward R. Laws said Tuesday.Mary Matalin, chief of staff at the Republican National Committee, said it was "business as usual at the RNC, except for the fact that what used to be the chairman's office is now a flower shop."
Matalin said Atwater "has stayed on top of political developments across the country and is eager to get back to work."
Laws, chairman of the department of neurosurgery at George Washington University Medical Center, said Atwater should be able to resume "a reasonable work schedule and normal activities next week."
"I've never led a normal life," an aide quoted Atwater as saying.
Laws did not specify the non-surgical treatment, but radiation is commonly used in such cases.
Atwater, a native of South Carolina, managed President Bush's 1988 campaign and was the president's choice to become chairman of the Republican National Committee.