S.D. Democrats pin hopes on popular senator

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- Sen. Tim Johnson has come through emergency brain surgery, a coma and a grueling recovery.

Now, Johnson, a 61-year-old Democrat who battled back from a December 2006 brain hemorrhage, is running for re-election in a GOP-dominated state where President Bush won 60% of the vote in 2000 and 2004.

It may turn out to be the easiest thing he's done in two years.

Johnson, running against Republican state lawmaker Joel Dykstra, was comfortably ahead 60% to 35% in a July Rasmussen Reports poll, the most recent statewide poll on this year's race.

Johnson's popularity isn't likely to provide much help for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama against Republican John McCain in November.

An American Research Group poll conducted Sept. 19-21 showed McCain leading Obama 55% to 39%.

"The last time we voted for a Democrat (for president) was during the '64 race between Lyndon Johnson and Barry Goldwater," says Brent Lerseth, a government professor at Augustana College in Sioux Falls. "We didn't even vote for (George) McGovern in '72, even though he's from South Dakota," Lerseth says.

The Obama campaign, though far behind, opened an office in downtown Sioux Falls in September. The office was set up for Obama, but "we think the interest in Obama and excitement for this campaign will help other Democrats down the ticket," said Matt McGovern, state director for the Obama campaign and grandson of 1972 Democratic presidential nominee McGovern.

The McCain campaign doesn't have an office in South Dakota. They have one in St. Paul, four hours northeast of Sioux Falls. Despite McCain's lead, "we're not taking anything for granted," says McCain spokesman Tom Steward.

Even though South Dakotans have a long history of helping Republicans win the White House, Johnson has prevailed since 1996, when he defeated three-term Republican Sen. Larry Pressler.

In 2002, he defeated Republican challenger John Thune. Two years later, Thune reached the Senate by beating Democratic incumbent Tom Daschle.