ONCE A BIG GOP TARGET, THE REPUBLICANS HAVE GIVEN UP EVEN TRYING TO FIND A CREDIBLE OPPONENT FOR TIM JOHNSON

Last week, we saw that reactionary Arkansas Democrat, who votes more frequently with the GOP than almost any other Democrat, is a safe bet for re-election. Not only is no real Democrat challenging him in a primary; no actual Republican is either. Of the 4 Democrats who most consistently rubber stamp the Bush agenda even more than Pryor (Evan Bayh, Mary Landrieu, Ben Nelson and Tim Johnson), one, Tim Johnson of South Dakota, was also handed some good news this week: no real opponent.

At one time Johnson was at the top of the Republican hit list-- along with Mary Landrieu (ironic how they go after the ones who are most like themselves and vote against progressive values and principles most often)--  but the GOP has pretty much given up on the South Dakota seat, even though it is a basically red state.

Republican hopes of recruiting a top-tier challenger to South Dakota Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson appear to have hit a dead end with former Lt. Gov. Steve Kirby’s recently announced decision to forgo the campaign. With Johnson already enjoying widespread public sympathy for his comeback from the near-fatal brain hemorrhage he suffered in December 2006, CQ Politics has changed its rating on his race for a third term to Safe Democrat from Democrat Favored.

...[N]one of the four candidates who have stated intentions to run for this year’s Republican Senate nomination appears at this point to have the political and fundraising clout to provide a serious threat to unseat Johnson.

The GOP contenders are state Rep. Joel Dykstra; businessman Sam Kephart; Bert Tollefson, a retired real estate broker whose past bids for public office include finishing last with 1 percent of the vote in the state’s five-candidate 2002 Republican U.S. House primary; and Charles Lyonel Gonyo, a political newcomer who is the only Republican who has filed for the race with South Dakota’s Secretary of State.

And here I was, hoping that South Dakota Republican superstar former-state Rep. Ted Klaudt would get out their and defend the whole Bush agenda and the whole GOP Family Values hypocrisy, campaigning from his prison cell. Ted couldn't be reached for comment but his latest tussle with the Justice system will keep him too busy to run against Johnson in November. That damned foster daughter he raped is suing him-- even though he apologized!

As for Johnson, it's not easy to judge his voting record because his hospitalization has caused him to miss almost as many votes as John McCain. However, on the roll calls he was there for, it's a pretty bleak picture. Take Iraq, for example. Starting with his decision to rubber stamp Bush's attack on Iraq in the 6 fateful October 10-11, 2002 votes for the authorization to use force-- Johnson voted with the GOP on all 6 role calls-- there have been 49 votes regarding Iraq. His hospitalization caused him to miss 14. That leaves 35. Johnson voted with the GOP 10 times. Still, despite his abysmal ratings-- impacted by his illness-- he doesn't to be as reactionary as Pryor, Landrieu, Bayh and Nelson; probably just a cautious red state moderate. Progressives in South Dakota might as well vote for him.