Free Republic

NDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Former U.S. Sen. Birch Bayh, who championed the federal law banning discrimination against women in college admissions and sports, has died. He was 91. Bayh died early Thursday surrounded by his family at his home in Easton, Maryland, according to a statement released by his family. His son, Evan, followed him into politics and became Indiana’s governor and also a senator.

“I was going to vote for him because he’s Evan Bayh. Evan Bayh!” said Ms. Brown, 69, a Republican, who has fond memories of the Democrat who is seeking to take back his Senate seat after a more than five-year hiatus. “But then I saw all those commercials about all the money he made when he left office, and I think I am for the other guy now.” When Mr. Bayh, swimming in cash and latent ambition, decided in mid-July that he would take another run at his old job, Democrats were overjoyed. They believed that Mr. Bayh, 60, whose...

Evan Bayh is mounting a return bid to the U.S. Senate, giving national Democrats a boost as they aim to retake the chamber in November. An announcement about Bayh's candidacy for the Indiana Senate seat is expected soon, said a source familiar with the plans said on condition of anonymity because they will not be released publicly until later Monday. Initially expected Monday, the formal announcement has been delayed because of logistics. National Democratic leaders have encouraged Bayh to run for more than a year, ever since incumbent GOP Sen. Dan Coats announced he would not run again. Sen. Chuck...

INDIANAPOLIS - Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate Baron Hill says he's withdrawing from the race. His name will not appear on the November ballot. Hill's withdrawal opens the door for Evan Bayh, who - according to CNN - is expected to enter the race.

Former Sen. Evan Bayh (D- Ind.) appeared on the Laura Ingraham Show and admitted that Obamacare does not reduce the actual costs of health care. Bayh said: The real issue that was not addressed, Laura, that you’ve raised now, and I think appropriately, is the cost, the cost to both the government and to your listeners. We need to take steps now to get the costs of health care under control. That was not dealt with really in an aggressive way in this legislation. I think it now needs to be.

Fox News Channel has hired former Democratic Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh as an on-air contributor. The network announced Tuesday it had hired Bayh to offer commentary and analysis across Fox News' programming ahead of the 2012 elections. [snip] Since leaving politics, Bayh has also signed on as a partner at a law firm and was appointed a senior adviser to private equity firm Apollo Global Management.

If only this were a coalition of the left and the right working out differences. But alas, it’s just a coalition of mostly liberal politicians who used to label themselves by a political party and now would rather fly stealth. Sigh. If you are not familiar with “No Lables”, no worries, it’s brand new and they certainly deserve a Hat Tip for brevity. Here’s their declaration: We are not labels – we are people. We care deeply about our country. We are frustrated and concerned about the tone of politics. We are passionate about addressing America’s challenges. We are Democrats,...

Indiana Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh has decided against a run for governor in 2012, robbing Democrats of their top recruit in the Hoosier State. "After careful consideration, I have concluded that the appropriate decision is not to be a candidate for governor of Indiana in 2012," Bayh said in a statement released to the Fix. ""The principle reason for my decision is the welfare of my twin sons." Bayh's decision leaves the Democratic field wide open. Reps. Brad Ellsworth and Baron Hill, both of whom lost races this fall, are likely to consider the Bayh-less contest. Others mentioned include Rep....

The Pundit Press Editorial Board has just projected Senator Dan Coats (R) the winner in Indiana's Senatorial election to replace the retiring Evan Bayh. Coats previously served two terms in the 1990's, after he was appointed to replace then-Senator Ben Quayle after the Bush-Quayle ticket routed the Democratic opposition in the 1988 Presidential election.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Republican Dan Coats continues to hold a solid lead in the Indiana Senate race even after being the target of weeks of negative ads that began just after our first poll was taken. The WISH TV Indiana 2010 Election poll shows Coats with an 18 point lead; it’s Coats 53 percent and Democrat Brad Ellsworth 35 percent...

Alternate headline: “Lame-duck Blue Dog free to admit what every other Democrat already knows.” The good stuff comes at the beginning, but if you give up before the end, you’ll miss him talking about what a horrible political miscalculation ObamaCare was. Yes, after 60 years of trying, they finally got a foot in the door of socialized medicine, but they knew the price they’d pay was steep. Did they know it’d be quite this steep, though? Kaus-ian Democrat-bashing Democrat Pat Caddell raises the stakes:

Indiana has not enjoyed such a vigorous debate among conservatives in many years. In the lead-up to the Republican primary on Tuesday, Dan Coats, Marlin Stutzman, Don Bates Jr., John Hostettler, and Richard Behney have given Indiana voters a healthy civics lesson with their arguments over who should be the GOP contender in November for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Democrat Evan Bayh. Because of Bayh’s last-minute decision in February not to run for re-election, state Democratic Party officials had to scramble to find a candidate for next fall’s ballot and officially will select U.S. Rep. Brad Ellsworth...

WASHINGTON -- As a Democrat from a conservative district in a red state, Rep. Brad Ellsworth has always relied on shrewd political instincts and good timing. The former local county sheriff is as law-and-order as they come and is the only way Democrats are able to play in a right-leaning state like Indiana. It was only with help from Democrats like Ellsworth in 2008 that President Obama was able to snatch the state from Republicans for the first time in nearly 50 years. But all of Ellsworth's charm and luck may be about to run out. After weeks of intense...

Senator Lindsey Graham on Sunday outlined his plan to help President Obama close Guantánamo if the administration agrees to abandon a civilian New York terror trial for 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in favor of a military tribunal. BY MARK SAPPENFIELD On Sunday, two moderate senators defended President Obama’s apparent willingness to reconsider his administration’s decision to use a civilian New York terror trial for the admitted mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. The first, Senator Lindsey Graham (R) of South Carolina, is seen as the architect behind the Obama administration’s potential change in plans. He has promised...

Here in Indiana, several candidates for May's upcoming Republican primary are being challenged by party officials on the grounds that they are not entitled to run. One candidate who asked to remain anonymous says he is a long time registered Republican and is being challenged on the grounds that he voted in 2008’s Democratic primary. He states, “I am a long time listener to the Rush Limbaugh show, during the primary season he came up with the strategy he called “operation chaos.” Thinking it would be fun to participate in upsetting the Democrats election plans, I did, never thinking it...

Washington – "I do not love Congress." Call it the shot heard round the Capitol. With a $13 million war chest and a lead in the polls, Sen. Evan Bayh (D) of Indiana appeared on track to reelection – until he decided that he'd had enough of what the Senate had become. "I am not motivated by strident partisanship or ideology," he said at a Feb. 15 press conference. ... To date, 12 senators have announced retirements - the second-highest number of Senate retirees in 75 years. The high-water mark was 13 departures in 1996. As in years past, some...

Senator Bayh was a guest on The View. The jackass talked about the need of more bi-partisanship but than joins Behar is taking a swipe at Governor Sarah Palin. Hasselbeck would not stand for it.

A notable buzz surrounded youthful Indiana State Sen. Marlin Stutzman as he was escorted around this week’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) by activist Donna Weisner. “Back in Indiana, they say he’s our Scott Brown,” she said proudly. Stutzman supporters elatedly boasted news of a Rasmussen poll that gives Stutzman a ten-point lead over the likely Democrat nominee for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Evan Bayh. All this is a stunning development for the young farmer and businessman who only four years ago was the youngest member of the Indiana legislature. In Washington power circles former Sen. Dan...

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR Why I’m Leaving the Senate By EVAN BAYH February 20, 2010 BASEBALL may be our national pastime, but the age-old tradition of taking a swing at Congress is a sport with even deeper historical roots in the American experience. Since the founding of our country, citizens from Ben Franklin to David Letterman have made fun of their elected officials. Milton Berle famously joked: “You can lead a man to Congress, but you can’t make him think.” These days, though, the institutional inertia gripping Congress is no laughing matter. Challenges of historic import threaten America’s future. Action on the...

Some of us always suspected that Evan Bayh was a Tough Chooser, and he proved us right this month when, with a disdainful flourish, he announced he wouldn’t try to get himself reelected senator from Indiana. He had been giving off signals for a long time, talking about the “tough choices” that his fellow legislators refuse to make to solve the government’s fiscal problems, without once mentioning what those tough choices entail or, for that matter, making a tough choice himself. Bayh did this most recently on February 3, when President Obama took questions for what seemed like hours at...