Already suffering from a stomach virus that was making her appearance before the Senate committee investigating Benghazi doubtful, the State Department announced that Hillary Clinton fainted yesterday and hit her head, suffering a concussion.

The Hill:

"She has been recovering at home and will continue to be monitored regularly by her doctors. At their recommendation, she will continue to work from home next week, staying in regular contact with department and other officials. She is looking forward to being back in the office soon."

Clinton, who has said she will not serve as secretary of State in President Obama's second term, cancelled a trip to the Middle East last week after becoming ill.

She was due to testify before Congress on Dec. 20 about the investigation into the deaths of four Americans at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi on Sept. 11.

Clinton will not testify as scheduled before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Jodi Seth, a spokeswoman for Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.).

The State Department told Kerry of Clinton's concussion on Saturday morning, and, when he heard, Kerry insisted that she not attend the hearing.

"Senator Kerry was relieved to hear that the secretary is on the mend, but he insisted that given her condition, she could not and should not appear on Thursday as previously planned, and that the nation's best interests are served by the report and hearings proceeding as scheduled with senior officials appearing in her place," Seth said.

Clinton deputies Tom Nides and Bill Burns will testify in her place, Seth said.

Kerry is considered the leading candidate to replace Clinton as secretary of State after U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice withdrew her name from consideration last week.

Speculation increased late Saturday that Obama had decided to nominate Kerry as the next secretary of State.

An unidentified source told CNN that a formal announcement could come as early as next week.

The conspiracy machine on the right has been working overtime postulating that this fall and injury are too convenient to be true. But the truth is a little more prosaic; Clinton was already doubtful for that testimony and while convenient, it's hard to imagine that Hillary would shed much additional light on what happened that day. If she was going to stonewall, then whether she shows up or not is moot.

As far as Kerry, better at State than Defense which is where there was speculation he would end up. A  man who voted against every major weapons system over  the last three decades has no business running our military. He will fit in nicely with the striped pants set at the State Department and will be mostly powerless to make policy.