U.S. Sen. Tim Johnson is stressing in his re-election campaign that he hasn't missed a single vote in Congress since returning to work last September after brain surgery eight months earlier.

But Johnson has missed 428 votes during his congressional career. That includes 311 votes while he was recuperating from surgery and 117 votes before his life-threatening brain hemorrhage.

Johnson's campaign manager, Steve Jarding, says the senator's voting record is good when viewed in the context of his entire 21-year career. Johnson began the first of his five U.S. House terms in 1987. He began serving in the Senate in 1997.

"With most of these guys, in any given day, life can intervene and they're going to miss votes," Jarding told The Daily Republic of Mitchell.

His Republican opponent, state Rep. Joel Dykstra of Canton, says the missed votes are not an important issue.

"How many campaigns are actually based on merely voting? There's an awful lot of stuff that goes on between the votes that really constitutes the job," Dykstra said.

Johnson's attendance record before his illness ranged from no votes missed in 1998 and 1999 to 37 votes missed in 2004 - when he suffered from prostate cancer.

Jarding said the campaign is focusing on Johnson's recently spotless attendance record because it helps allay fears about the senator's health.

"It tells people that if there's health concerns, well, obviously he's going to work every day and he's not missing votes," Jarding said, "and that's obviously one of the main responsibilities these guys have."

Johnson campaign research indicates Dykstra has missed 86 votes in the Legislature since 2003, Jarding said. South Dakota's Legislative Research Council does not track missed votes and could not confirm the number.

Dykstra said he has not researched his attendance record so he can't disagree with Jarding's figure. He said he probably votes 300 times a year in the Legislature, so 86 votes missed since 2003 would be a small percentage.

"I've missed a couple of days," Dykstra said.