Ex-President George H.W. Bush in Texas hospital

Former President George H.W. Bush was in a Houston hospital Thursday for continuing treatment of a lingering cough.

Bush, 88, has been in and out of the hospital recently for complications resulting from bronchitis, Methodist Hospital said in a brief statement.

The hospital and Bush's spokesman in Houston, Jim McGrath, described Bush as in stable condition and said they expected the former president to be released by the weekend. He's been under hospital care for nearly a week.

Bush's son, former President George W. Bush, and his wife, former first lady Laura Bush, slipped in to see him Sunday. They now live in Dallas.

The elder Bush was vice president under Ronald Reagan from 1980 to 1988, when he was elected president. He lost his re-election bid to Bill Clinton four years later.
Bush and his wife, Barbara, now make their winter home in Houston and spend summers in Kennebunkport, Maine.