Last week Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD) suffered what appeared to be a stroke. He lost his ability to speak. After the Attending Physician to the Congress, Rear Admiral John Eisold, MC, USN, examined him he was rushed to George Washington University Hospital, where he underwent brain surgery. It seems he was bleeding from blood vessels which never had formed properly. Johnson has an unusual birth defect, apparently termed arteriovenous malformation, estimated to affect some 300,000 Americans. Now doctors report he is recovering but the long-term prognosis is much harder to predict.

The first person to rush to Johnson's side was Majority Leader-elect Harry M. Reid (D-NV). I am sure it occurred to Reid that should the Johnson Senate seat be vacated the Republican Governor of South Dakota no doubt would appoint a Republican to serve until the next election. That would move the Senate to a 50-50 tie.

Inasmuch as Vice President Richard B. Cheney breaks ties, the Senate would be in Republican hands. That, in fact, was the situation in 2000. There was a tie and Cheney broke it as soon as he was sworn into office. From that day the Republicans were in control. Then when Vermont Senator James M. Jeffords caucused with the Democrats, after he became a so-called Independent, Republicans lost control.

Senator Reid does not have to worry about his precarious majority unless Senator Johnson were to die or to resign.

There is a precedent in Johnson's own State which probably would deter him from resigning regardless of his condition.

In 1966 Senator Karl Mundt handily was re-elected. He served until November 1969, when he suffered a stroke, which left him in a virtual vegetative state.

Mrs. Mundt guarded him day and night and would not permit reporters from South Dakota to see him. After a couple of years and when South Dakota voters were getting restless, Willard Edwards, Washington correspondent for THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, was permitted purportedly to interview Mundt. Edwards wrote that Mundt was getting better and was preparing to return to the Senate. Edwards, the father of conservative biographer Lee Edwards, came to see me in my capacity as press secretary to Senator Gordon L. Allot (R-CO). I gave him the information he was seeking and then I confronted him. "Why did you do a false story on Senator Mundt? You know very well he is not getting better and has no intention to run for re-election." Edwards looked at the floor and mumbled that he wanted to help Mrs. Mundt, an old family friend. The Edwards story was picked up by every South Dakota media outlook. That calmed down the voters but not the Governor. He wanted two Senators representing that small State. Mrs. Mundt, on the other hand, wanted the higher pension benefits if Mundt served his complete term.

Finally, when the term was ending, the Governor went to see Mrs. Mundt. He showed her a certificate appointing Bob McCaughey, the Senator's long time Administrative Assistant, to the Senate. McCaughey had been a close friend of the Mundts and the Governor thought perhaps to see McCaughey in the Senate would be enough for Mrs. Mundt. It was not. The other paper the Governor had with him was a letter of resignation. The Governor pleaded with Mrs. Mundt, observing that the pension benefits were substantially the same if the Senator resigned near the end of his term or if he stayed in office until January of 1973. She said absolutely not. Continued...