Picture courtesy of Paul Ross.
Posted on 12/16/2006 4:39:12 AM PST by Leroy S. Mort
WASHINGTON (AP) - Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana will not seek the presidency in 2008, saying he believes the odds of a successful run were too great to overcome.
``At the end of the day, I concluded that due to circumstances beyond our control the odds were longer than I felt I could responsibly pursue,'' Bayh told the Indianapolis Star. ``This path - and these long odds - would have required me to be essentially absent from the Senate for the next year instead of working to help the people of my state and the nation.''
The announcement comes just two weeks after Bayh, in an appearance on a Sunday talk show, announced that he would take a first step toward a 2008 presidential campaign, forming an exploratory committee. His decision narrows a field dominated by Whites House hopefuls, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois.
Just last weekend, Bayh traveled to New Hampshire, the early presidential primary state, but his appearance was barely noticed as Obama delivered two speeches to sold-out crowds and drew hordes of media.
Bayh is a Democrat with a record of political success in a Republican-leaning state. He had been pointing toward a run for the White House for months, and had $10.5 million in his Senate campaign bank account as of Sept. 30. Money that could be transferred to his exploratory committee.
In addition, the senator recently hired his first paid organizer for Iowa, the state whose caucuses will be the opening competition of the campaign.
Among the announced Democratic candidates are Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich, but Clinton and Obama loom large in a potential field that also could include 2004 vice presidential nominee John Edwards, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and former Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts, Joe Biden of Delaware and Chris Dodd of Connecticut. The Republican lineup is equally crowded with Sen. John McCain of Arizona, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani and Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
As a member of the Senate Intelligence and Armed Services committees, Bayh was one of the first Democrats to support military action in Iraq. But in December 2005, he changed his position, saying he would not have supported legislation authorizing the invasion if the facts the Bush administration used to support the move had been presented to him accurately.
Bayh, 50, has charted a centrist's course throughout his political career, including two terms as governor and eight years in the Senate. He also has served as chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council, which is a prominent voice for moderation within the party, and has helped establish the centrist New Democrat Coalition.
Elected governor in 1988, he was the first Democrat in 20 years to hold that office and - at 33 - the youngest state chief executive in the United States.
Bayh was often referred to as a ``Republicrat'' who courted the middle. He never raised taxes and he left office with a humming state economy, low unemployment and a record budget surplus.
His approval rating was an astonishing 79 percent in a state that hasn't voted for a Democratic presidential nominee since Lyndon Johnson's 1964 landslide.
He drew national notice, too, as his tenure neared an end. Bayh was tapped to give the keynote address at the 1996 Democratic National Convention.
He was elected to the Senate two years later.
In recent years, Bayh voted against confirmation of Chief Justice John Roberts as well as Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito; opposed legislation to open a portion of an Arctic wildlife refuge to oil drilling; supported a comprehensive immigration bill that included a path to citizenship for millions of men and women in the country illegally.
Bayh is the son of Birch Bayh, who won three terms in the Senate from Indiana before losing his seat to Dan Quayle in the Republican landslide of 1980.
Guess Evan figured one pretty boy is enough.
Good news for us. The more normal, mainstream, midwestern or 'safe' their candidate is, the better chance they have to win.
We're better off if they go with the polarizing nutbags.
Although Bayh will definitiely be looked at by Hillary as a balancing act for her ticket.
It actually makes news when some announces he WON'T run. :-)
Vilsack and Obama? ;^)
Scarred off by the O'Bama juggernaut - which is a lot of noise over a polite socialist snake; and Hillary of course, power thirsty and also scared of the O'Bama media convulsions. Poor Evan, no room in the big Democratic tent for him.
Guess the plantation masters told him to back off. They have already decreed the new king in waiting
Good, Bayh was the scariest of all because he comes across as so normal and moderate. However, these past few years you could see more and more his siding with Moveon.org in order to garner primary support.
His vote against Condi Rice was what woke me up to this man's masked ultra liberal side.
You're right, Bayh could have won. He did come across as very normal and moderate, but I don't think he was an ultra liberal- he just sold his his soul to Moveon in hopes of getting the nomination.
Bayh is one of the most boring stale individuals to ever serve in the Senate. Remember his 2004 speech at Kerry's Boston convention? The delegates were so bored they started talking to each other before he finished. He has a reputation for being a nice guy, and ethical, but that's where it stops.
He is the true wolf in sheeps clothing.
Groomed from birth to do what his daddy Birch couldn't...become president.
He was programmed to run just like Gore. The sole goal being to become president , not Be a President, just become titled.
16 years of his governorship and those that followed him put Indiana in a helluva hole. Yet Indiana voters still remained moon eyed over him,a dangerous man for this country.
"...instead of working to help the people of my state and the nation..."
Lord, spare us from politicians who want to "help" us. You give us our daily bread and they take it away. Make them live under couches with the dustballs where they can't be seen. Smite them with a spaceship and send them to Mars, with not enough fuel to return.
Amen
Somebody has his FBI file.
Those strange late night calls can change your mind about things like this, espcially when you reportly like to go for "walks in the park."
Good decision, Mr. Bayh. Now do you regret having pitched LEFT for the past 2 years preparing for your run? Principles are a hard thing to recover once you've tossed them aside.
In other words, he's too conservative for the Dems.
Or he's happy to be a veep....
If his politics are similar to his father's, all I can say is 'thank you Evan'.
Looks like we dodged a bullet.
From the other comments on here it sounds like we're also very lucky he exposed his real self in order to get a nomination he's just been bamboozled out of by an empty suit.
Picture courtesy of Paul Ross.
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