Later today, ABC News will have an exclusive on-air interview with the South Dakota senator, who is recovering from a brain hemorrhage that nearly killed him. But here’s the big news hook:
Johnson, a Democrat whose seat is key to his party’s tenuous hold on the Senate, does not intend to retire next year.
“Throughout, Senator Johnson talks candidly with Mr. Woodruff about his daily struggles and his determination not only to return to the Senate next week, but to seek re-election in 2008,” the network said in a release.
People wonder why the Democratic leadership in the Senate has trouble getting anything done. Well, a 51-member majority isn’t really a majority with one senator from the party in the hospital, one senator a quasi-Republican, and four senators on the presidential campaign trail. Welcoming Tim Johnson back into the fold, as a healthy member of the party, is a step in the right direction.
(H/T Political Wire)