I don't doubt that you're correct. Assuming that Johnson does run again, and I expect he will, the Democrats will no doubt try to avoid the issues and paint him as the courageous man who cheated death and overcame tremendous obstacles just so he could continue to serve the people of South Dakota without concern for his own well being, yadda, yadda, yadda. And if the Republicans let them set that kind of tone for the campaign then they should lose. There is no reason at all why the Republicans cannot run a strong campaign based on Johnson's record and at the same time raise appropriate doubts about his ability to continue in office given his health. Given the GOP's propensity for snatching defeat from the jaws of certain victory I have my concerns.
Too often our party fails to campaign as it should, we shake with terror that the media will label us “mean spirited.” Probably one of the most brilliant recent campaigns against an incumbent Senator that “was not supposed to lose” was Saxby Chambliss against Max Cleland in 2002. Cleland, of course, was supposed to be the highly respected cripple, and someone that no one dare challenge. Problem was, Cleland had a few issues that made him a liability in the Senate, #1, his health (rarely mentioned was that the Senator suffered from serious problems related to an inability to sleep properly, and for those of us who’ve experienced such problems at some point, your judgment can be in serious question when you suffer from severe fatigue), the other, and quite probably related to the first part, was that his record was moonbat and wholly not in line with the majority viewpoint of Georgians.
Chambliss ran an unapologetic campaign charging Cleland (and rightly so) with being weak on national defense issues (almost raising the rodent line of “How dare you question MY patriotism !”), and he walloped Cleland by 7%. The rodents predictably howled that he had “played dirty” to win and vowed revenge.
What needs to be done in SD is something simple. Just state the facts, run ads saying, “South Dakota needs 2 Senators.” Cut to a shot of an empty hospital bed with monitors all around it. “Late last year, our Senior Senator was stricken with a severe stroke and he has not been back to work since.”
Go around the state with a film crew and ask folks on the street what a seriously incapacitated Senator should do — hang on to his seat (for which he cannot do the job) or go home and spend time with his family recuperating. Say, “we thank the Senator for his 21 years of service, but at a time of an evenly divided Senate, in a time of war, international terrorism, illegal invasion, every vote matters, and our Senator is too ill to be able to cast a vote. His staff can run his office, but they can’t vote for him. We need someone who can devote their full attention to these issues today. We can’t afford to take the risk with someone who will say, maybe I’ll be able to tomorrow, maybe next week, maybe next month... because it may not ever come. South Dakota is a small state, and it needs all 3 of its representatives working for it.” The GOP can run these ads without even mentioning Johnson’s liberal record.
The fact that Johnson can’t cast a vote, any vote, on any issue, ought to be of paramount concern to the voters of the state.