Harry Whittington, the 78-year-old Texas lawyer shot by Vice President Dick Cheney Saturday during a South Texas hunting trip, has suffered a minorheart attack, the Associated Press has reported. Whittington has some birdshot in his heart and a Corpus Christi hospital administrator said he had the heart attack early Tuesday while being evaluated.

Like the Armstrong family, on whose ranch the quail hunt took place, Whittington is a longtime Texas Republican who has been close to governors and presidentsand was well known among political leaders and activists.  He owns the Vaughn building in Austin, which has hosted Republican campaign headquarters for decades. George W. Bush used the building for his gubernatorial campaigns, current Texas Gov. Rick Perry has an office there now, and Karl Rove, former Gov. Bush's political guru, used to have an office there, the AP reported.

But Whittington has been involved in Texas politics going back to the 1960s, when he worked on John Tower's campaign for Senate. In the 1980s, Republican Gov. Bill Clements appointed him to the old Texas Board of Corrections, which oversaw a state prison system that had been declared unconstitutional by a federal judge.  In 1999, he was named by Bush to lead the Texas Funeral Services Commission. He has served on other state boards and worked with other troubled agencies.

Whittington was reported to be in stable condition at Christus Spohn Hospital.

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