Free Republic

EVANSVILLE — John Hostettler has been wearing the tread off his tires crisscrossing the state to get signatures for his U.S. Senate campaign, and he can see no good reason to step aside for former Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind. Hostettler, a Republican who represented the 8th District in Congress for 12 years until his defeat in 2006, has watched over the past month as national and state Republicans tried to recruit first Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., and now Coats to challenge Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., this year. Coats' statement Wednesday that he had authorized supporters to begin gathering signatures to...

With all the posts we’ve done recently about whether or not Evan Bayh lives in Indiana (and for how long he ever might have lived here), we decided to do a little more digging to see where he lives now. The first place we looked was on the Statement of Candidacy he filed with the Federal Election Commission for the 2010 election cycle. You can see it below if you click on the image for the full screen version.

In the week since Dan Coats announced he was preparing to challenge Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh, Democrats have launched a withering, no-holds-barred assault on the former Republican senator, throwing him off balance and raising questions about whether his prospective candidacy has suffered lasting damage. The oppo research mill began cranking up within hours of word last week that he was readying a campaign for his former Senate seat in Indiana. First came a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee statement referring to him as a “federally registered lobbyist whose client lists include banks, private equity firms and defense contractors.”

In the week since Dan Coats announced he was preparing to challenge Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh, Democrats have launched a withering, no-holds-barred assault on the former Republican senator, throwing him off-balance and raising questions about whether his prospective candidacy has suffered lasting damage. The oppo research mill began cranking up within hours of word last week that he was readying a campaign for his former Senate seat in Indiana. First came a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee statement referring to him as a “federally registered lobbyist whose client lists include banks, private equity firms, and defense contractors.” Then Coats was blasted...

If you want more evidence of how deep Democratic losses may be in the fall midterm elections, Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh's suddenly shaky bid for a third term is Exhibit A. A few months ago, Mr. Bayh was considered a shoo-in for re-election in the Hoosier state. Now election handicappers have moved him from "safe" to endangered. [Snip] Despite Mr. Bayh's once carefully cultivated image as a party moderate, he has lurched left under the rhetorical spell of the Obama presidency and the pressures of the Senate's liberal Democratic caucus. He voted for the $2.5 trillion Obamacare bill despite strong...

Former Indiana GOP Sen. Dan Coats is launching a political comeback, announcing Wednesday that he’s preparing to challenge Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh in a race that’s poised to be one of the marquee Senate contests of 2010.

INDIANAPOLIS - Informed and reliable sources are telling Howey Politics Indiana that former U.S. Sen. Dan Coats will announce Wednesday he will challenge U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh. The source, former aide Curt Smith of the Indiana Family Institute, said that Coats knows he has about two weeks to gather the 4,500 signatures - 500 per Congressional district - in two weeks. Coats was up for re-election in 1998 when he decided to retire, citing the pressures of constant fundraising. Bayh went on that year to defeat former Fort Wayne Mayor Paul Helmke to reclaim his father's Senate seat. Coats was...

WASHINGTON - Two centrist senators Tuesday threw up a roadblock to salvaging President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, as Democrats agonized over whether to push forward or shift to idle until political resistance subsides. Sens. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., and Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark. — both face re-election this year in Republican-leaning states — said they would oppose the strategy Democratic leaders are considering to reconcile the House and Senate bills and put comprehensive legislation on Obama's desk. That approach involves using a special budget-related procedure to go around Republican opponents in the Senate, a calculated risk sure to inflame critics on...

House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence (R-Ind.) announced on Facebook Tuesday that he has decided not to run for Senate against incumbent Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh next year. He will instead seek reelection in the House. "I am staying for two reasons," he wrote. "First because I have been given the responsibility to shape the Republican comeback as a member of the House Republican Leadership and, second, because I believe Republicans will win back the majority in the House of Representatives in 2010." Pence was probably the GOP's best chance to flip Bayh's seat, though former Congressman John Hostettler and...

Sens. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) are jumping on the spending freeze bandwagon, calling on Congress to flatline discretionary spending—and they issued a challenge to the president the day after the White House proposed its own three-year budget freeze. "If the president is serious—and I believe he is—he should also say tomorrow night he will veto the first appropriations bill that comes to his desk that has an earmark on it," McCain said. The Fiscal Freeze Act of 2010, which Bayh and McCain hope to introduce to the Senate later this week, includes provisions to install a spending...

Despite a late recruitment push from the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Indiana Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) announced he won't be challenging Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) this year, and will instead seek re-election to the House. Republicans have grown increasingly bullish on their chances at winning Bayh's Indiana Senate seat in light of the worsening political environment for Democrats, but don't have a strong candidate willing to take him on — at least not yet. Pence led Bayh in a Rasmussen poll released yesterday, and Bayh polled under 50 percent against two other possible Republican challengers. Here's Pence's letter: Open Letter...

A Rasmussen Reports poll released Monday shows GOP Rep. Mike Pence with a slight advantage over Indiana Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh, who is up for re-election in 2010. The survey reports Pence has a 3-point lead over Bayh, 47 percent to 44 percent, within the poll’s margin of error. Seven percent are undecided, while 3 percent said they’d back another candidate. Pence, who met with National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn on Thursday, said Friday he would take the weekend to talk with his wife about a potential challenge. Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/31958.html#ixzz0dgVLPy8H

Gallup reports today that Barack Obama has polarized the nation more than any other first-year President, with partisan gaps on approval ratings wider than anyone since Gallup started polling. Bill Clinton held the record before now, but Obama bested him by 12 points: The 65 percentage-point gap between Democrats’ (88%) and Republicans’ (23%) average job approval ratings for Barack Obama is easily the largest for any president in his first year in office, greatly exceeding the prior high of 52 points for Bill Clinton.

In yet another sign that Republicans’ strategery is paying off, a new poll shows Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., lagging GOP Rep. Mike Pence, 44%-47%, in a hypothetical 2010 matchup. Pence, an anti-earmarks champion, is mulling a bid but hasn’t signaled what he’ll actually do. Indiana, though it voted for Barack Obama in 2008, seems to be returning to its GOP roots. But until recently, Bayh was viewed as safe — he’s a centrist Democrat and has been a fixture in Indiana politics for decades. But the Democrats’ sharp left turn over the past year has taken its toll, and Bayh...

The Club for Growth PAC today urged U.S. Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) to enter Indiana’s 2010 Republican Senate primary election, and defeat incumbent Democrat Senator Evan Bayh in November.

“There’s going to be a tendency on the part of our people to be in denial about all this,” Bayh told ABC News, but “if you lose Massachusetts and that’s not a wake-up call, there’s no hope of waking up.” Democrat Senator Evan Bayh on Republican Scott Brown’s stunning Senate win in Massachusetts

INDIANAPOLIS -- Republican Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana said he hasn't ruled out a possible challenge to Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh this year...

INDIANAPOLIS -- Tuesday's political shocker in Massachusetts is bringing harsh criticism from Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, who some say is now vulnerable. Republicans picked up the seat of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, with Scott Brown defeating Martha Coakley in a close, bitter race. The loss of such a solidly Democratic seat has prompted Bayh, who faces re-election this year, to severely criticize the party's strategy and approach. "If you lose Massachusetts, if it's not a wake-up call, there's no hope of waking up," he said Wednesday. Brown's successful campaign against Coakley was based largely on his opposition to President...

At least one Republican might do more than cheer for Massachusetts: House GOP Conference Chairman Mike Pence is now considering a campaign of his own against Sen. Evan Bayh.

Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., appears to be getting a little nervous over Brown’s victory: In many ways the campaign in Massachusetts became a referendum not only on health care reform but also on the openness and integrity of our government process. It is vital that we restore the respect of the American people in our system of government and in our leaders. To that end, I believe it would only be fair and prudent that we suspend further votes on health care legislation until Senator-elect Brown is seated.