... pray for Democratic Senator Tim Johnson of South Dakota, who underwent surgery last night to repair a condition in his brain that caused several blood vessels to become enlarged and tangled, and which led to bleeding in his brain. He is in critical condition but recovering from the surgery. They're supposed to issue an update on his condition later today.
Here's the thing. If he can no longer serve in the Senate, the Republican governor of South Dakota will appoint a new Senator who will no doubt be Republican also. Not only will this give the Senate a 50-50 tie of Republicans and Democrats (which grants Dick Cheney as Vice President and President of the Senate the deciding vote in any 50-50 split), but this will make it such that Democrats will no longer be able to head Senate committees by virtue of having a clear majority. One of these Senate committees - the Senate Judiciary committee - was about to start investigating the Administration. If a Republican Senator from SD takes Johnson's seat, that committee will no longer be headed by a Democrat and the investigation will go bye-bye.
Not to mention that this man is only 60 and has a family and I'm sure friends who would miss him very much, of course.