Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Indiana) announced today that he would not seek reelection – just days before Indiana’s Friday deadline for the 4,500 signatures required for candidacy in the race.
As TPM reports:
R.J. Gerard, communications director for the Indiana Democratic Party confirmed to TPMDC that the state Democratic Party would be able to select a new candidate to run in November’s general election if no one files petitions with 4,500 signatures (500 within each of the state’s nine House districts) to run in the primary.
So the state Democratic Party is going to pick the candidate for November’s general election. Bayh had been leading in the polls against his Republican challenger, Dan Coats, by a healthy 20-point margin, and Bayh’s exit means that will probably be largely forfeit.
It remains to be seen what Democrats across the country have learned from Scott Brown’s unexpected victory in Massachusetts.
February 15, 2010 at 6:21 pm
This weekend, Dem insiders were scoffing at Dan Coats’s bid mostly because Coats hasn’t lived in Indiana for many years, so this announcement must be a huge surprise to all but the insider-insiders. A few names bounce around in my head, e.g., Baron Hill, but they’re only regionally, not state-wide, and even the idea of fundraising and campaigning to get Hill’s name around northern part of Indiana gives me a headache. Mostly, it’s the fundraising where Indiana Dems will lose. The national party will help, but it can’t make up for not having the name “Bayh”!
February 15, 2010 at 7:32 pm
You’re sharper than I am on Indiana politics — this just isn’t stuff I’ve been keeping track of.
But I totally agree, which is why I suggested that anything the Dems have (or haven’t) learned from Coakley versus Brown a month ago is going to matter a lot. It’s up to them to pick someone who people A) recognize and B) are willing to throw money at.