AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) – Gov. John Baldacci broke three ribs after slipping on ice and falling outside the Blaine House early Wednesday, a spokesman said.

Baldacci was taken by his state police bodyguard to MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta, where X-rays confirmed the broken ribs, spokesman Lynn Kippax said. The governor was released and returned to the governor’s mansion, where he was resting after canceling all of the day’s appointments.

The accident happened at about 5:30 a.m. as Baldacci walked down the steps at the rear entrance of the Blaine House to pick up the morning newspapers, as he customarily does at the start of the day, Kippax said.

The governor was awake and alert after returning to his residence, but was uncomfortable with his injury, Kippax said. His staff urged him to take the day off and rest.

Baldacci’s accident happened just a little more than a year after he was injured in a highway accident in which a sports utility vehicle driven by a state police executive protection officer rolled after hitting an icy patch on Interstate 295 in Bowdoinham.

Both the governor and his driver were taken to Maine Medical Center in Portland. Baldacci, who suffered a broken rib, mild concussion and bruises, left the hospital the evening of the 2004 accident with little notice and returned to the governor’s mansion.