Karen Tumulty has been digging into the neocon brain well and pulled out a stinker.
Here she says
The incapacitation of South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson has put all eyes in Washington on what is normally a little-noticed Senate vote now scheduled for Jan. 4. It is called the "organizing resolution," and is the bit of internal housekeeping that determines how committee memberships will be allotted between the two parties, as well as who will get to serve as chairman and ranking members of each of the panels. These resolutions traditionally stand until the next Congress, even if the makeup of the chamber shifts to put the other party in the majority, which is why precedent would seem to dictate that the Chamber would stay in Democratic hands, even if Johnson is replaced by a Republican.
But don't count on it this time.
Will they do everything they can to protect their master from judgement day?
Even if Johnson ultimately recovers from the congenital blood disorder known as arteriovenous malformation, which required emergency surgery Wednesday night, it now looks highly unlikely that he will healthy enough to vote on Jan. 4.
Here's how
They could insist on an "out clause" that stipulates that control of the chamber goes to them if they somehow manage to achieve a majority during the course of the session.
We did this in 2000 just before Jeffords came to our side.
If the Republicans filibuster, and the question drags on into January or even beyond, it presents another truly extraordinary possibility: a chamber with a new Democratic leader, but the existing set of Republican committee chairmen.
There you have it. The Doomsday scenario.