The Thin Line Between Victory and Defeat

Like anyone else with a degree of political awareness, I've watched the unfolding sage of the junior senator from South Dakota with a sickening mix of dread and fascination. In case you haven't heard, Senator Tim Johnson was hospitalized and underwent brain surgery yesterday (It now appears to be a case of intercerebral bleeding caused by a natural weakness in the veins connected to his brain - basically he was born with them being on the thin side, which isn't uncommon, and they started to bleed inside his head, as I understand it. Not good but not the stroke it was reported as being initially.). I, of course, wish him nothing but health and hope he recovers fully.

But now that it looks like he may recover I don't feel so ghoulish speculating on the possibilites. Because although he appears to have survived surgery and is in stable condition that doesn't exactly mean he's fit to serve as a Senator. If that's the case (or, you know, he takes a turn for the worse which I feel bad even just mentioning) then his seat is vacant. And under South Dakota law it's their governor who'll appoint a replacement. Their Republican governor. Who'll no doubt appoint a Republican seat filler who'll serve until the next general election - in 2008.

Basically, since Johnson is a Democrat, that means that the Senate will be split 50/50 between the parties again (Last happened right after Mr. Bush was first elected. Until he alienated a few moderate Republicans and one of them left the party giving control to the Democrats, anyway). And as Vice President Cheney will have the tie-breaker. So thanks to one small illness the Democrats will have lost the undivided house they gained in the last election. And any chance of using it to pass their legislative agenda. The Republicans, no doubt, won't cooperate and they'll drag the Congress into gridlock in preparation for the next electoral cycle.

That's only if Mr. Johnson is unable to serve, of course. There's really not much precedent for forcing living Congresspersons out of office even if their abilities are impaired. But if you don't expect the party that muscled their way into Terry Schiavo's hospital room to try, well, think again. If Mr. Johnson is fine then this is just a momentary and fleeting panic. But, well, I think it points out just how slim the margin of victory was in the last election. The Deomcratic Party, with all the advantages they had, only won the Congress by a single seat. And South Dakota isn't the only state where a Republican governor can appoint someone to fill an empty seat. There is absolutely no safety zone here for the Democratic Party. And I hope that once the dust has settled Mr. Johnson's malady reminds them that for all the expectation and celebrations that have happened since that fateful November day it could have just as easily turned the other way. That election is over but the business of restoring our country to its rightful course is just beginning (I'm not exactly the biggest supporter of the Democratic Party but in a two-party system you have to work with the least objectionable alternative. Nothing against my conservative friends but, well, they're wrong. And dangerously so. In my opinion anyway but we dd just have an election that shows a lot of people tend to agree with me.). And the Democratic Party had better be prepared to make good use of the time and resources they've been given because all it takes for them to vanish is one good person falling ill. They've gotten a chance. Now it's time to make the most of it, if they still can.