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Good point. I don't think there's anything that says that a Senator can be out of circulation for the remainder of his term, thereby holding the majority for the Dems, even if he himself never steps foot back onto the Senate floor.

Alright, I think enough prayers and well wishes have been posted. Now we can get into the raw politics of the matter. If the democrats can run a women who has been bedridden in the hospital for months, in and out of apparent comas, and on the verge of death for re-election to the house in 2004 (a women in Hawaii whose name escapes me). Then I see nothing that would stop them from attempting to keep Johnson a Senator for 2 more years, even he never left the hospital or his home. And the republicans, ever looking to be "bipartisan" and gain media love and attention, would probably be morons and rotate through senators to "pair" their vote with him.

I wouldn't be surprised if it happened.

Patsy Mink, and she was already dead when the election was held.

Also, the Democrats argued to keep her on the ballot (in the name of voter fairness) at the same time that they were arguing to replace Torricelli on the ballot in NJ (in the name of voter fairness).

-PJ

I see nothing that would stop them from attempting to keep Johnson a Senator for 2 more years, even he never left the hospital or his home.

Do the people of South Dakota have anything to say about this or it just the politicians in Washington???

Even if there are lingering effects of a stroke, Robert Byrd has already proven that it's possible to have one's brain turn to mush and still function as a United States Senator. Heck, he even ran for and won reelection to yet another six year term last month.

Then I see nothing that would stop them from attempting to keep Johnson a Senator for 2 more years, even he never left the hospital or his home.

I doubt very much that Senator Johnson will be incapacitated. It sounds like they caught this in plenty of time, when he was just having some mild stroke-like symptoms. Modern medical treatments will probably have him back to near-100% health in short order. And I suspect his condition will be far less fragile than Vice-President Cheney's.

But even if he had to be hospitalized or bed-ridden for the next two years, it wouldn't effect Democratic control of the Senate. The Democrats would have a 50 to 49 majority instead of 51 to 49. That's still a majority. Only if Johnson were to die and a Republican took his place would the Senate then be tied at 50-50, in which case Cheney would cast the tie-breaking vote to organize the Senate under Republican control. The Vice-President has no vote in the Senate unless there is a tie; he can't vote to create a tie.