Senator Tim Johnson

This is kind of a relief, actually. Senator Johnson's condition is apparently congenital. Godspeed and all, and hope for a full recovery.

But the darkest recesses of my mind suggested a Litvinenko scenario. The Republicans have already stolen at least one presidential election and are facing their worst nightmares come January.

Given that their party has most of the guns, can we put it past one of their more loosely hinged cohorts to commit actual murder in order to flip the Senate back to Republican control, and thereby avoid the scrutiny that is sure to come from the Democratic Senate?