SD Sen. Johnson to retire, cites health and age

[jFico89]

http://news.yahoo.com/sd-sen-johnson-retire-cites-health-age-001827846--politics.html

VERMILLION, S.D. (AP) — Entering the auditorium on a motorized scooter and delivering remarks in halting speech, South Dakota Sen. Tim Johnson announced Tuesday that he would retire next year at the end of his term and acknowledged he remains limited by a 2006 health crisis that nearly killed him.

[tangent4ronpaul]

Johnson's departure helps solidify GOP prospects of claiming the state's first open Senate seat since 1978. Republican former Gov. Mike Rounds had announced plans last year to challenge Johnson, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, and has rallied much of the state and national party establishment behind him.

In a sign Republicans are not yet lock-step behind Rounds, a Washington-based political action committee released a statement Tuesday criticizing Rounds' spending during two terms as governor, and calling for a more conservative candidate to run for Johnson's seat. The same fractures between tea party-aligned and more moderate Republicans cost the GOP seats that were seen as winnable in 2010 and 2012.

On the Democratic side, long-rumored possible successors including Johnson's son, South Dakota's U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson, and former U.S. Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin.
...
"I believe South Dakota moves into the top slot as the most likely Republican pickup," said Greg Strimple, a Republican pollster and past consultant to the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Johnson, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, joins Democratic Sens. Carl Levin of Michigan, Tom Harkin of Iowa, Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, and Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey as seasoned and influential Democrats departing the chamber, where Republicans need to gain six seats to take control. Two Republican senators have announced their retirements, both in Republican-performing states Georgia and Nebraska.

-t