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South Dakota Moves One Step Closer to Global Hegemony

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Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota suffered a possible stroke Wednesday and was taken to a hospital, his office said.

If he should be unable to continue to serve, it could halt the scheduled Democratic takeover of the Senate. Democrats won a 51-49 majority in the November election. South Dakota’s governor, who would appoint any temporary replacement, is a Republican.

“Senator Tim Johnson was taken to George Washington University Hospital this afternoon suffering from a possible stroke,” read a statement from his Senate office. “At this stage, he is undergoing a comprehensive evaluation by the stroke team.” [link]

Johnson is only 59, and I certainly  hope  he recovers swiftly and fully.  Whatever your partisan preferences, and mine are not generally with Senator  Johnson or his party this year,  this is not the sort of event that should decide such matters.  Furthermore, while the Governor may temporarily fill the seat, that’s only until a special election can be held at the time of the next general election, which will be held  in November  2008.  That’s when Johnson, a  Senate back-bencher, would have been up for reelection anyway.  Then, the matter  will be  up to the voters of  my home  state, who are among the nation’s most conservative, but who tend to like electing their congressional representatives from both parties (our lone Congressional representative, Stephanie Herseth, is a Democrat, and our other senator, John Thune, is a Republican).

14 Responses

  2. Well, if this ends up meaning that the Republicans take back the Senate, you will see fevered new lows in conspiracy theory.

    It may well mean that John Bolton could be confirmed, too.

  3. To run with Joshua’s statement, I imagine Rummy and a voodoo doll. LOL

    Or so the left will tell us.

  5. As disappointed as I was with the GOP effort going into the elections and the outcome, especially in the Senate, I earnestly hope that Gov. Rounds appoints a centrist Democrat to the post if that choice becomes necessary. His integrity in this matter could be the first step toward making a move to regain the Senate in 2008. The people of South Dakota chose a centrist democrat and they deserve to see the spirit of that choice respected through the end of his term. I say that as a staunch conservative knowing that a Supreme Court appointment could very well rest with his decision. Meanwhile, I pray that Sen. Johnson recovers and is able to continue serving his constituents.

  8. Mr Chips,

    Tim Johnson won as Tim Johnson, not a “centrist democrat.” His service work to his constituents, especially farmer, is well known and respected.

    The man Tim bested — John Thune — defeated Tom Daschle in an election in a race two years later. That’s the race where the party identifications really mattered.

  9. I love the title. Living in Berkeley, CA, I expect to see something like that on some of the local publications sometime soon. Seriously.

    That’s got to be a tough decision for the governor to make. It would be extremly bad PR for the Republicans to be seen as shamelessly helping themselves to a substantial power shift in defiance of the public will in the mid-term elections, which had a high voter turnout.
    Democrats have already been successful in producing political capital by painting Republicans as stealing elections, voting machine conspiracies, etc.
    Choosing a Republican replacement senator would compound that distortion.
    Then again, it’s perfectly legal. And a very significant opportunity. I imagine many that voted in the mid-terms would even know that this had happened.
    The Republicans have smokin Joe Lieberman to keep the Democrat extremes in check, but senate control would be better.

  10. Dan tdaxp,

    You do make a good point about the quality of the individual which should be respected apart from his party affiliation. And, I would assume you are from that neck of the woods are closely familiar with it to determine the ufll constituency’s motives in voting, respective of the two election. However, Gov. Rounds doesn’t have the option of appointing another Sen. Johnson to replace the one currently hospitalized and stability in politics depends, in some measure, on respecting the balance of party power that the electorate has determined. Nevertheless, the people also elected Gov. Rounds so he can do whatever he sees fit in this situation; and I only think it would behoove him to help the Republicans bide their time until 2008 to capitalize on the errors that a Democrat Senate majority will make instead of focusing the attention of the electorate on “cheap” politics by installing a Republican understudy.

  11. In the unfortunate event Gov. Rounds must appoint a replacement, I’d must make a few points:

    – Johnson won the last election by 524 votes, and there were murmurs that inquiries into irregularities might have changed the outcome. Thune was a mensch and dropped the matter. So you could argue that one either way: it pays to be a mensch in the long term, or, you could also say that Johnson had the thinnest of mandates and hasn’t done much in office since then.

    – I think it’s a perfectly reasonsable rule to say that state succession statutes should require the appointment of a congressman of the same party, it’s not reasonable to expect that we suddenly adopt a new, unwritten rule now (remember John Hines?). Make the change after the fact.

    – The nationwide results of the last mid-term election should mean nothing in Gov. Rounds’s decisionmaking process. The “nation” does not represent South Dakota.

    – If Gov. Rounds appoints a Dem, if will create enormous good will among independent voters, especially if he involves Bush in the decision. It will gain him next to nothing with Democrats, and create considerable ill will among the GOP base. The good will, like all feelings held by independent / swing voters, will not last as long as the bitterness of the partisans.

  12. Joshua,

    The problem with mandating replacements of the same party is you encourage parties to manipulate each other. For instance, if South Dakota had that law Rounds could appoint USD President Jim Abbott (a very conservative Democrat), which would further strengthen the blue-dog wing of the SDDP and further weaken the liberal & Daschleite wings.

    In the same way, a Democratic governor could nominate a liberal Republican like Stan Adelstine of Rapid if something would happen to Thune.

  13. Heh. I actually know Stan Adelstein and did not realize that he was considered a player in our state’s politics. I don’t think he’s electable, given some of his past marital troubles, his beard, and the fact that too many of his father’s enemies are still around. In South Dakota, you get half of your votes on personal grooming alone.