Despite the rigorous demands of life in the U.S. Senate, Barbara Johnson believes a return to that energizing world of floor debate and committee hearings would speed her husband in his recovery from a brain hemorrhage seven months ago.

"When he came home from the hospital, he made giant leaps forward that first week," Barbara Johnson told the Journal. "I think the same thing would happen once he gets back in the office and on the (Senate) floor with his colleagues and friends."

During one of her few interviews since her husband fell ill last December, Barbara Johnson stopped just short of affirming that her husband would seek re-election in 2008. But she also made it clear that the 60-year-old, second-term senator is not ready to retire, despite lingering stroke-like speech and physical impairments that are improving bit by bit.

"Honestly, we do have this major obstacle in front of us right now, but his health is good. His dad is 94. Tim isn't going to be happy sitting on the back deck for 34 more years," Barbara Johnson said. "Tim's an action guy and this is what he loves. We'll sit on the back deck when we're 70 but probably not much before then."

Such a time frame would fit well with another six-year term in the Senate, if Johnson decides to run and wins. But his wife was careful not to get ahead of the present, or allow a reporter to prod her into making an announcement on a decision that isn't yet final. She also made it clear that Tim Johnson hasn't lost his commitment to Senate duty, something that his wife obviously continues to share.

"Giving it serious thought, the reason we would consider it goes back to why we started this years ago," she said. "We wanted to make South Dakota stronger and to make lives better. That almost sounds like a Ms. America answer, doesn't it? But the simple truth is that after years in Congress, Tim can actually make a lot of things happen for South Dakota.

"It would be a shame to throw away that investment made by the people of South Dakota so we can sit on the deck."

With the annual August recess coming up, the Johnson family has a short cushion allowing the senator to continue his therapy and the family political "team" to make up its collective mind about a re-election bid.

Getting back to the office and the Senate floor is the first priority for the senator, his wife said. She repeated the now-familiar estimate that he planned to go back to the Senate sometime this fall. Johnson's communications director Julianne Fisher said last week that she couldn't say whether he would return by late fall or early fall.

Former Sen. Tom Daschle was more definitive when he said on Monday that Johnson's goal was to return to work in the Senate in September. Barbara Johnson wasn't quite ready to confirm that during her telephone interview with the Journal on Thursday.

"We'll have to see where we are when we come back after Labor Day," she said.

Barbara Johnson said her husband's work ethic and determination drive his daily physical therapy and are helping him regain the ability to walk and improve his ability to talk. She said the most dramatic area of improvement is in his speech, which is essential to performing his duties in the Senate.

"You can get around in a chair. There are all sorts of ways to make accommodations," she said. "But you have to be able to let people know what's on your mind."

Tim Johnson's speech tends to be slower than it was, and he sometimes struggles with certain words. But he speaks clearly and is regaining more of his former command of the language every day, his wife said.

"Yesterday, he was talking to someone he barely knew, and he sounded like his old self, for about 10 minutes there," she said. "I kind of gauge it on other people's responses. Let's say we go out for a hamburger. Does the waitress understand everything he's saying? Yes. Friends who haven't been around him for months come and understand everything."

Johnson said her husband has very high expectations and gets frustrated when he can't meet them.

Speech therapists say that's typical of brain injury recovery, where those who had a high level of verbal skills before their illness or injury tend to have higher levels of expectations in recovery.

Those individuals also tend to recover their speech sooner and more completely, said Ruth Samuelsen, supervisor of speech and language pathology at Rapid City Regional Hospital.

"One thing that he has going for him is that his language area is very strong," she said. "Patients, like teachers who are very verbal people, tend to improve a little faster than, say, a rancher who might live alone and seldom talks."

Johnson's background in the law, reading and comprehending complex legislation and public speaking in Washington, D.C., and back in South Dakota also gave him a strong foundation in language, speech and reasoning that is likely to pay off in his rehabilitation, Samuelsen said.

"It would be the same as a well-conditioned athlete who tears an ACL and is back in a few weeks, while someone else might take much longer," she said. "Their muscles are trained, just as his thinking is trained."

Bob Burns, a political science professor at South Dakota State University in Brookings, said Johnson's speech is likely to be a public focal point when he makes his initial public appearances.

"That will probably be the first thing people will observe, rather than whether his right arm is fully functional and whether he is walking," Burns said. "It is admittedly important that members of the U.S. House and Senate be able to express themselves very well before their colleagues and constituents. Persuasive abilities are an important quality in elected officials."

But Burns also said South Dakotans are likely to admire Johnson for his gritty return and not be put off by either his physical handicaps or slightly diminished speech.

"I don't think that'll affect the citizens' thoughts on how well he might represent them and the state of South Dakota," Burns said.

Burns said he expects Johnson to run for re-election if his physical condition allows it.

"And it looks more and more like his physically condition will allow for it," he said.

Barb Johnson declined to say when the family team might make a decision on the 2008 election. When asked why the senator wouldn't finish his current term and retire to take life easy and enjoy more time with his grandchildren, she said: "Good question … one I've often asked."

If it's clear that she has personal reservations about the wear and tear of a political campaign, it's also obvious that her husband doesn't share such doubts. And she respects that.

"It's what Tim wants to do, yes," she said. "And me, I'll be the loyal wife. … Whatever he decides and the team decides. It's a team decision."

Meanwhile, the immediate focus is the coming weeks of hard therapy, continued Senate work at home and a day not so far off when South Dakota's senior senator returns to the Senate he loves.

"If it were up to Tim, he'd be back today. He's doing a lot of work from home," Barbara Johnson said. "We'll just have to wait until the doctors say OK."

Contact Kevin Woster at 394-8413 or kevin.woster@rapidcityjournal.com