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I don’t know his politics, but I would guess that he must be something of a DINO in order to get elected in SD. So, if someone ‘helps’ him vote, they may not be voting the way he would have, otherwise.

I don’t know his politics, but I would guess that he must be something of a DINO in order to get elected in SD.

I believe he supported the war and he is routinely described as a "moderate" Democrat. (Whcih could mean someone who is "only" 90 percent liberal, but probably is still better than much of his crazy party.)

Assuming that Johnson vacated the seat or, God forbid, died, what choice would Rounds have other than to appoint a successor? Is there any mechanism he could defer to in order to avoid accusations of choosing his opponent?

I do not know. My personal opinion is that the only way his seat would be vacated is in the event of his death. I believe that he will just be given time to recover and that there won't be a big movement to replace him even though he is providing no representation to the state. The media will certainly never point that out to anyone.

I don’t know his politics, but I would guess that he must be something of a DINO in order to get elected in SD. So, if someone ‘helps’ him vote, they may not be voting the way he would have, otherwise.

The following is strictly opinion and casual observation so someone else may need to correct me.

Tim Johnson is a decent man and probably sees people, not just votes. I've met him on a couple of occassions and liked him. He is a Dem but he's not in the kook liberal camp or one that I associate with the unsavory aspects of the party. My impression is that he is a back bencher and does tend to vote along party lines. His son served in Afgahnistan and one of his louder Senate moments was in reference to getting needed hardware for troops. His profile is not large, he's not prone to hyperbole, and doesn't usually cause waves. Many in the state may see his purpose being to secure $$ for drought assistance, farm bills, ethanol, etc, so, in that sense, he may be representing his constituents. He faces a very friendly media in the state and recieves little in criticism.

That being said, I would have been very curious to see his vote on the delayed emergency troop funding surrender (and spinach farmer/peanut storage) bill. Had he been able to vote, I suspect that there may have been some money for a rural water system buried somewhere in the bill...