There are conflicting reports that Senator Johnson of South Dakota had a stroke today and is currently hospitalized. Aides and the Senator himself realized something was awry when the Senator began to stutter during a radio interview, after which reports say the Senator lost all ability to speak. The on-staff doctors were notified and an ambulance subsequently took the senator to the George Washington hospital in downtown DC.
Many have noted that should Johnson not be able to continue service that the Republican governor of South Dakota, Mike Rounds, would appoint his replacement to take the seat until the end of what would have been Johnson’s term in 2008. If this were to happen, the 51-49 Dem/Rep split in the Senate that was the result of the midterm elections would return to the 50-50 split that we have now, with VP Dick Cheney being tie-breaking vote, essentially creating a Republican majority (albeit one that is not veto proof)
It is however important to note, as Tim Russert did on NBC Nightly News tonight, that there is indeed quite the interesting precedent for such a situation, ironically also involving South Dakota. In 1969, Senator Mundt suffered a stroke and was incapacitated. After demanding that the governor appoint his wife to fill his seat, which the governor refused to do, Mundt refused to step down thus preventing the governor from appointing a replacement. He remained in office until his term ended in 1973.
We’ll link to MSNBC on this one since they were the ones that broke the story.
Update: There are now reports that the Senator did not actually suffer a stroke….Regardless, we wish the Sen. Johnson a speedy recovery (and not just because the balance of power is at stake, but because we ninjas have feelings too)