Daschle lashes out at GOP for zeroing in on Johnson

Calling national Republicans “sad” and “desperate,” former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) decried their pledge to begin pursuing an aggressive campaign against his ill former South Dakota Senate colleague, Sen. Tim Johnson (D).

In an e-mail to supporters issued by Johnson’s campaign committee, Daschle criticizes National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Chairman John Ensign (Nev.) for saying he would push forward with an effort to defeat Johnson in 2008.

{mosads}Johnson suffered a life-threatening brain hemorrhage in December and has yet to return to the Senate or begin campaigning, but fellow Democratic senators have helped him raise more than $1.2 million this year for his reelection bid.

In his e-mail, Daschle asks supporters to send Ensign e-mails demanding that he “stop the attacks.”

“Tim’s focus should be on his recovery to serve the people of South Dakota, not fending off classless political attacks from national Republicans,” Daschle wrote. “That means we’re not going to sit back and wait for the right-wing slime machine to attack Tim Johnson. We have to fight back.”

The seat is a top Republican target, and the national GOP’s efforts to win it have been hampered by Johnson’s health problems.

Last month, state Rep. Joel Dykstra became the first major Republican candidate to join the race.

In 2004, Daschle lost his reelection bid to Republican John Thune in one of the most heated Senate races in the country.

“It’s acceptable for Democrats to fundraise for Sen. Johnson but it’s over the line for Republicans to say the seat is a focus? Sounds like the very definition of hypocritical to me,” said NRSC spokeswoman Rebecca Fisher.

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