Evan Bayh And Insert Some Clever Quip About Rats And Sinking Ships Here

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Evan Bayh And Insert Some Clever Quip About Rats And Sinking Ships Here

Written By : John Hawkins

Apocalypse 2010 is continuing for the Democrats as Evan Bayh has now announced his retirement.

Fox News is reporting that Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) will retire in 2010, dealing a blow to Democrats’ electoral prospects for the upcoming midterms.

The Democratic retirement wave has been limited mostly to the House (where more Republicans have actually announced retirements) but Bayh’s retirement follows exit announcements by Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-SD) and Chris Dodd (D-CT).
And it makes the race or Bayh’s seat more competitive.

Bayh’s seat has been rated as “lean Democratic” by the Cook Political Report, and Democrats had succeeded in launching a relentless attack on former Sen. Dan Coats (R) since he entered his name into race against Bayh. Bayh had led both Coats and fellow challenger John Hostettler (a former congressman) by double digits–Coats by 20 points and Hostettler by 16 points in recent polls.

Bayh had nearly $13 million in campaign cash and was in good shape for the 2010 race.

Given that Bayh was expected to have a strong challenger, but was considered the likely favorite to win, even in this environment, why did he give up the ghost?

Was he in more electoral trouble than people thought? Was the Enquirer about to reveal that he was “hiking the Appalachian trail?”

Maybe.

But, maybe he just looked at what was going on in the Senate and didn’t find it all that appealing. Here was a center-left Democrat who was constantly being put under heavy pressure to vote for Barack Obama’s radical, unpopular far left wing agenda. Either he had to be the bad guy to his constituents in Indiana, which isn’t a liberal state, or to the hard core left-wingers who drive all the political decisions in the Democratic Party — and this is when it’s supposed to be “funtime” for the Democrats. They have 59 Senate seats and 259 seats in the House. How’s it going to look after the election this year?

Whatever Bayh’s reasoning may be, even if the Democrats get a strong contender in Indiana, this has gone from a seat that was leaning towards a Democratic retention to a toss-up. If the Dems can’t find a blue chipper to run, well then, it’ll turn into a likely GOP pick-up. You gotta love it!

Mike_M

http://www.indystar.com/article/20100215/NEWS05/100215009/Bayh-won-t-run-cites-partisan-rancor

A more detailed article by Bayh’s hometown paper. Basically he’s saying that Congress has ceased to function as a representative body of the people and is incapable of meaningful action on the issues.

Considering his party had a supermajority up until recently, I’d say this moves serves as a damning indictment of the Democrats.
impulse910

As a Hoosier myself, this comes as a shock. Bayh is very popular in Indiana. His #1 threat, Mike Pence, will not run for Senate. It is likely Bayh would have won re-election. So, this is a surprise. This is, essentially, a vote of no-confidence in the Dem leadership. This is a bad sign for the Dems. When one of their brightest stars is calling it quits, it doesn’t bode well. The question is, with the ensuing power vacuum, will Pence cange his mind? And who do the Dems choose to replace Bayh? Understand, Indiana is a red state. A lot of Hoosiers have a serious case of buyer’s remorse when it comes to Obama. The Dems will have to find someone who can appeal to the working class. Getting a Coakley type is a certain path to defeat.
http://TheNixonTape.Blogspot.Com Dick_Nixon

This came out of left field to be sure. INO, Bayh will now prepare for a run for the Democratic Nomination in 2012 for POTUS.
Mike_M

Posted by Dick_Nixon
2010-02-15 14:08:57

I thought it might be possible in 2008 that one of the parties would split and have a “name” candidate run as an independent or nominal third party.

I can see it happening now even moreso. I think the odds are around 60% that Hillary will take a shot at Obama. Palin could easily make an indy run if the GOP nominates another moderate dud. Someone like Bayh could play to the center, maybe trying to snag someone like Crist or Romneyto bring the center right into play.

One thing’s for sure: Obama’s incompetence, corruption, and bullying seems to have created no limit of possibilities.
President_Friedman

“Considering his party had a supermajority up until recently, I’d say this moves serves as a damning indictment of the Democrats.”
Posted by Mike_M
2010-02-15 12:01:34

Agreed, but I’m not so sure Congress would be any more capable of getting the important work accomplished if the GOP had a supermajority right now. Ideology aside, there seem to be some “mechanical” issues with the way they are trying to pass bills these days. I blame it on “comprehensive reform”, where they try to do too much all at once, creating wedge issues that must be passed along with the smaller issues that have widespread support. We saw it when the Republicans tried to tackle immigration reform and we are seeing it again with healthcare.
http://conservativebootcamp.com martinhale

There are probably a half-dozen other Democratic Senators that I would have preferred leave Congress ahead of Bayh. He seems much less ideological and rabidly partisan than people like Reid, Boxer, Feinstein, Schumer, Kerry, Stabenow, Levin, et al. Oh well, life moves on.

I have to wonder, however, if there is either some big scandal brewing in Mr. Bayh’s life which he’s pre-emptively trying to avoid, or perhaps a gold-plated offer to make mega-bux lobbying or heading up some company.
Mike_M

“Ideology aside, there seem to be some “mechanical” issues with the way they are trying to pass bills these days.”

Well yeah, even during a “good crisis” the country is only willing to move so far at once, left or right. But instead of incremental progress, both sides seem to want wholesale change in order to prove how smart they are or something.

If you believe Bayh is a decent guy, it’s easy to see how he could be fed up fighting against the parade of crooks and egos in government, especially with his own side in charge. But he’s been part of everything the government has done the last few years so it’s safe to assume he’s as big a fraud as any of the others. He’s just taking his campaign chest and getting out before things get ugly this summer and fall.
tazzmax

Mike M, amen, Bayh is just another “RAT” escaping the sinking ship before he drowns….Writing on the wall?

There’s no such thing as a “blue dog demon-RAT”, they’re all liars, cheats and crooks.
http://www.conservablogs.com/theconservativecrawfish/ reelman

All the modern democrats have are distractions, lies and smears.
Pick one…you will be right. Maybe even by picking two.
vegeta

Bayh’s a Ken doll and being a resident of Hoserland I’m glad to be rid of him.
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