Senator raising funds for Tim Johnson

| Thursday, January 25, 2007

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Lee Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., recently opened a special joint fundraising account to raise cash for himself and for the possible 2008 re-election bid of hospitalized Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D.

The paperwork has been filed and organizers plan to have a "big, signature event" in February, Jim Messina, Baucus' chief of staff, said. All money will be evenly split between the two senators.

"Sen. Johnson ought to be focused on getting better, we can be focused on his politics for a while," Messina said.

Johnson, transferred from intensive care earlier this month, is in a rehabilitation unit at George Washington University Hospital after emergency brain surgery in December. He recently began speaking, but his recovery likely will take several months.

Baucus, who also is up for re-election in 2008, had $1.4 million cash on hand as of Sept. 30, according to the most recent Federal Election Commission reports. Johnson, who only narrowly won his last re-election battle, had $651,000.

Messina said organizers have been "pleasantly surprised" by how many people have already expressed interest in contributing.

Baucus decided to open the joint account as the best way help his stricken friend, Messina said.

"Max was on a run, where he does most of his good thinking, and was thinking about Tim Johnson because they're buddies," Messina said. "He thought, 'Couldn't I help him raise money?' We really feel good about this as a way to help Tim."

Johnson's office did not request the new account but welcomes it, his chief of staff, Drey Samuelson, said.

"We were really touched," Samuelson said.

"It came out of the blue. We didn't ask for it, it didn't occur to us to ask for it. It was incredibly generous on their part and meant a lot to us. We were very pleased."

Before he fell ill Dec. 13, Johnson seemed "very excited" about running for re-election, Samuelson said.

"He hasn't decided to run, and I don't think we can say that yet, but we're certainly planning on putting him in a position to run. We expect him to run," he said.

"I have every expectation that he's going to want to run."

Baucus is the only senator who has offered such an arrangement, Samuelson said.

The two senators have been in Congress for more than 20 years. Baucus appeared in a 1988 campaign commercial for Johnson, Samuelson said.

"They've been friends for a long time, and Sen. Baucus has been very helpful to us," he said.

Baucus won election to the U.S. House in 1974 and to the Senate in 1978. Johnson won a U.S. House seat in 1986 and the Senate in 1996.

Johnson narrowly won a tough re-election battle in 2002, winning by only 524 votes.

He experienced stroke-like symptoms during a conference call in December with reporters and underwent surgery hours later. He was diagnosed with arteriovenous malformation, a tangling of arteries and veins usually present since birth that can hemorrhage.

If Johnson were unable to return, it could shift the current balance of power in the Senate. The governor of South Dakota, a Republican, would likely choose a Republican to take the spot. That would realign the Senate from 51 Democrats and 49 Republicans to a 50-50 tie, with Vice President Dick Cheney casting the deciding vote.