RICHFORD, Vt. (AP) – U.S. Rep. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., collapsed Sunday afternoon while attending the funeral of a Vermont National Guardsman killed in Iraq.

The congressman was treated at the scene by emergency medical technicians for roughly half an hour and then walked unassisted to an ambulance.

“I feel all right,” he told reporters as he left the building. “My wife had a flu. I’m fine.”

Jeff Weaver, Sanders’ chief of staff, said later Sanders was taken to the hospital in St. Albans where the diagnosis was a case of flu and dehydration. Weaver said Sanders had not felt well when he left for the funeral Sunday morning. He said Sanders was released Sunday in time to watch the Super Bowl.

Sanders, 64, is the front-runner in a bid for the U.S. Senate seat held by U.S. Sen. Jim Jeffords, I-Vt., who announced last year he is retiring at the end of his term.

Sanders was attending the funeral of Army National Guard Sergeant Joshua Johnson of Richford who was killed in Iraq late last month.

Sanders left the service while it was still going on in the gymnasium at Richford High School, then apparently fell to the floor in the lobby. He lay on the floor outside a restroom for a few minutes before being helped into the restroom.

Sanders, a self-described socialist, has carved out a successful political career outside the political system.

He started his career as a candidate of the leftist Liberty Union Party, making runs in the 1970s for the U.S. Senate and governor and never getting more than 6 percent of the vote.

In 1981, though, running as an independent, he ousted the six-term Democratic mayor of Burlington by 12 votes. He served as mayor for eight years.

Sanders ran for governor and the U.S. House in the 1980s as an independent, coming the closest to success in 1988 when he finished second – ahead of the Democrat – in a race for the U.S. House. In 1990 he ousted the Republican and won the state’s lone seat in the U.S. House.

Over the years Sanders has gained credibility in Washington, despite being an independent, and strength in Vermont, so much so that the Democrats have conceded the Senate race to him.

Among those who have contributed to his Senate bid are Democrats Barbara Boxer of California and Barack Obama of Illinois and Tom Daschle, the former Democratic leader of the Senate.

Challenging Sanders on the Republican side are Richard Tarrant, a millionaire businessman seeking his first elective office, and Greg Parke of Rutland.

AP-ES-02-05-06 1745EST