Dartblog

Sadly, Senator Tim Johnson of South Dakota underwent a stroke while speaking with journalists this afternoon. This has cued plenty of wistful skylarkings about ‘the balance of power in the Senate’ being up for grabs, since, should Johnson’s seat go vacant, the Republican governor of South Dakota would select someone to take his place, possibly erasing the Democrats’ one seat majority.

I don’t quite understand all the frenzy. Even Strom Thurmond’s seat was not declared officially vacant when he was ill and not in attendance. And Governor Mike Rounds would probably have a moral, though not legal, obligation to appoint a Democrat to take Johnson’s place, since his constituents elected a Democrat.