(Continued from page 20)

• Republicans too could face ideological tension. U.S. Rep. Kristi Noem, elected in 2010, has been courted to challenge Rounds by South Dakota conservatives. While Noem has shown little movement toward investigating a 2014 Senate campaign, aides said Tuesday: "She hasn't ruled anything in or out."
• Nationally, Republicans said by stepping aside, the politically resilient Johnson, who also retains a $1.2 million campaign war chest, gives the GOP its best chance to gain a seat in its quest for the majority.
• "I believe South Dakota moves into the top slot as the most likely Republican pickup," said Greg Strimple, a Republican pollster and past consultant to the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
• Johnson, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, joins Democratic Sens. Carl Levin of Michigan, Tom Harkin of Iowa, Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, and Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey as seasoned and influential Democrats departing the chamber, where Republicans need to gain six seats to take control. Two Republican senators have announced their retirements, both in Republican-performing states Georgia and Nebraska.
• South Dakota was carried by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney last year, adding urgency for Democrats hoping to keep their majority. Republicans must gain six seats to retake the chamber in 2014.
• With his wife Barbara at his side, Sen. Johnson remained standing, leaning on his stronger left hand at the podium, taking questions from reporters then posing for pictures and shaking hands with supporters -- reaching out with his left -- for an hour.
• "I look forward to serving the remaining two years as the country is facing difficult times on many fronts and I will work every day to find a bipartisan solution to these challenges," he said.
•

• JAMESTOWN, N.D. (AP) -- A pilot made an emergency landing south of Jamestown Tuesday when the plane he was piloting started experiencing mechanical problems.
• The North Dakota Highway Patrol says 46-year-old Keith Melius, of Faulkton, S.D., landed the 1978 Cessna 172 on a snow-covered field about 17 miles south of Jamestown at 1:45 p.m. Tuesday.
• Melius was not injured. The aircraft did suffer some damage, though how much has not been determined.
• The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident.

(Continued on page 22)