Sen. Bayh Won’t Seek Re-election. What Now For Democrats?

Just one week before the filing deadline for potential Senate candidates, Senator Evan Bayh, Democrat from Indiana, shocked many when he announced today that he would not seek re-election in November. Sen. Bayh has served two terms in the U.S. Senate and flirted briefly with a presidential run in 2006 after winning Indiana by over 60% of the vote.

By all accounts Bayh remains a popular figure in Indiana politics. He is a former two-term governor and the son of a Senator, making him part of the political establishment. Early reports cite Bayh’s growing discontent with what he felt was excessive partisanship in the U.S. Senate, and aides were quick to dismiss rumors that the decision was the result of a potential strong challenge in former Senator Daniel Coats. Early political prognosticators had listed Bayh’s seat as one to watch as evidence of an overall backlash against Democrats in 2010.

But outside of Indiana Bayh was not quite as popular. Despite being elected as a Democrat, Bayh developed a reputation as a conservative, and like fellow Democrats Ben Nelson from Nebraska and Blanche Lincoln from Arkansas, Bayh was seen as more of a hinderance then a help to the Democratic agenda. His family has close ties to the health insurance industry which raised many eyebrows when he was one of the earliest critics of the Obama administration’s efforts at health care reform.

The timing of Bayh’s announcement will do little to ease the suspicions that Bayh was simply a DINO–a Democrat In Name Only. National Democrats had alreadly lined up support for Bayh and were determined to hold his seat in what may be a difficult 2010 election season for Democrats. But with only a week for a replacement candidate to announce, organize, and file, it is hard not to question Bayh’s motives, particularly since Indiana is not a state known for a deep field of strong Democratic contenders.

The longer term impact of Bayh’s decision may not be as clear. He was not a strong supporter of the Obama administration’s domestic agenda, and there was no indication that he was doing anything to move forward issues such as health care reform or job creation. Supporters will no doubt claim that efforts to get Bayh on board with those agenda items would woo moderate Republicans, giving the administration that ellusive air of bi-partisanship it has spent the entire first part of its term chasing. For now though that all remains in the realm of speculative punditry.

At the very least, Bayh’s departure will no doubt send a signal to Republicans that some Democrats don’t have much fight left in them, and that signal could be all they need to move even more aggressively with their obstructionist agenda. Of course, that would be an ironic result from a decision that was, according to staffers, the result of intractable partisanship in Washington.

Read more: 2010, bayh, indiana, partisanship, politics, senate

photo courtesy of Lisa Bang via Flickr

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Ellinor S.

4:24AM PST on Mar 8, 2010

thank you

send a green star

9:13AM PST on Feb 21, 2010

Judith,
President Obama has continued with the signing statements and executive orders to bypass congress and the Democrats are threatening to run roughshod over Republican obstructions. Does something that GWB is blamed for doing during the last 2 years of his administration suddenly become OK when the other party is in total control in Washington or am I missing something here? Republicans" are using obstructionism now at the request of their constituents to keep things that unpopular in their states from being passed by a party that now has total control in Washington.
Our forefathers believed in a balance of power to promote bipartisanship in congress. The Democrats and Republicans feel no need currently to work together because there is no need to. This is the reason for the movement across the country to get rid of incumbents in congress and to elect new people to replace the one that don't feel the need to work together with people on the other side of the aisle. This movement isn't a Republican or Democrat movement. It includes voters from all sides of the spectrum, from ultra conservatives to the ultra liberal.

Judith S.

3:46PM PST on Feb 20, 2010

Well, actually, Roger, blaming GW for what happened in the last two years of his administration does hold water since he had many signing statements and often made the choice to avoid what everyone else wanted. If G.W. wanted something, he got it regardless of if anyone else wanted it or not. Do not blame the Democrats who, though they may have been in the majority, were overlooked or downright ignored. They are not responsible for the Bush debachle.

3:41PM PST on Feb 20, 2010

You cannot currently send a star to Ian because you have done so within the last week.

Ian, you bring out many very good points.

Paul D.

8:14AM PST on Feb 20, 2010

THE DEMOCRAT PARTY NEEEDS SOME BALLS

The Democrat Party needs some balls. Compromise doesn't mean giving in.They/we lost Ted Kennedy's Senate seat because They gave in to the oppositions obstructionism. They lost Ted Kennedy's Senate seat because they fielded a wimp instead of a lion(ess). They lost Ted Kennedy's Senate seat and will probably lose more because they rolled over for the republicans,blue dog democrats, insurance company lobbyists, the bank lobbyists, the pharmaceutical lobby, Etc., Etc., ad infinitum, ad nauseum. In fact,democrats caved in to everybody except the American people who elected them.
Don't ask me for money when you ignore me. Don't ask for my money when you ignore my letters. Don't ask me for support when you are a demrep. That is a democrat who is no different, an exact replica, a reflection of the republicans that are obstructing every progressive agenda that we elected this President and Congress to do.
~;^}>

Ian M.

1:39AM PST on Feb 20, 2010

Just look under the bus parked at the bottom, probably because the owners couldn't afford the fuel. Spying - the "Total Information Awareness" program Congress refused to pass or fund and tried to forbid is run out of the Pentagon, where Congress can't touch it, by military and contractors, and it's getting ever more intrusive and illegal. A presidential advisor wants to infiltrate, set up, bust and imprison anti-war activist groups and other groups who are agaisnt the current direction of our government. Whether it's actually been suspended or not, the Constitution is no longer in effect in this country save by government whim. Now the President authorizes the murders of American citizens abroad who are only SUSPECTED of terrorism or contacts with terrorist groups, and our military is still busily recruiting for al Qaeda and commiting genocide against innocent men, women and children. And all that is still only a fraction of what's wrong.

Meanwhile the Congress sits on its ever-widening ass, votes itself raises while denying any increase to seniors and others on Social Security saying the "cost of living" didn't increase in 2009, and pretending they just can't get anything useful done. The Republicans are willing to cause ANY amount of destruction and suffering to gain another majority in Congress, and the Democrats are suddenly totally invertebrate except for less than a handful of true statesmen who will be culled from any serious run for president - again - no matter

1:37AM PST on Feb 20, 2010

"...blaming the Republicans alone for the 8 years of the GWB administration doesn't hold water."

I don't THINK I did. If did, my apologies; that's not the way it happened. No, the Democrats, with or without a majority, went along, or they had someone to blame for not doing their jobs, though none of it held water, as you say. The Republicans did add the novelty of mostly open corruption, and when they had the majority, they literally locked the Democrats out of the legislative process, disenfranchising half the voters in the country. I don't believe the progressive agenda has lost voter support; I believe reportage of that support may have lost ground in the MSM, though. The people WANT healthcare reform, they DON'T and DIDN'T want bailouts. Voters are also becoming more and more aware of how we were lied into Afghanistan, then into Iraq, how we're constantly being illegally propagandized and all the rest, and more all the time are becoming aware of just how little what the American people want, or even NEED, matters to those in power and how little power we have left to affect much of anything.

Cops are becoming increasingly militarized and isolated from the citizenry and more thuggish, violent and even deadly, with less and less accountability. Journalists have found the Middle Eastern conflicts to be the deadliest wars in our history for their own. Our electoral, general political, legislative and judicial processes have been hijacked and We the People are now at th

5:21PM PST on Feb 19, 2010

Ian,
The last 2 years of the GWB administration had the Democrats in control of on house of congress, but the Republicans still get the blame for what happened during those two years. Many Democrats went along with that Republican agenda for those two years also.
Like I said before, both parties share the blame for the gridlock in congress and they have all regressed to using childish tactics to get their way or else. The voters have the power to change what is currently going on in congress in November. Three elections and the polls show that the Progressive agenda in Washington has lost popularity with the majority of people in America and the approval numbers in polls keep declining. Remember that even GWB had bipartisan support most of the time, so blaming the Republicans alone for the 8 years of the GWB administration doesn't hold water.

4:10PM PST on Feb 19, 2010

"since the Democrats are in control and polls show an overwhelming disapproval of congress, history shows that the Democrats will not do well in November. Polls are overwhelmingly showing that people believe that there must be a balance of power in Washington to bring back bipartisanship in congress and that one party rule has promoted obstructionism by both parties in the last year."

That's only half right, unfortunately. Roger, the Republicans were on and eight year feeding frenzy during which they destroyed all regulation of industry and all accountability which ended in the bailout of the perpetrators of the destruction of the economy and the Middle Class. The incumbent Democrats could more properly be termed REcumbent - they just laid back and let it all happen. It was thought that when they gained a majority they'd finally start demanding some accountability and restore regulations and perhaps SOME taxes on corporations again at least. Instead, majority and all, they've allowed the Republicans to black them at every turn, they've continued to vote to fund illegal wars, they've ignored the mandates under which they were elected, and returning to a Republican majority would be suicide. They'd just roll over the Democrats again and finish the destruction of this country. Either we elect independents and Third Party candidates, or this next election will be the last.

Ian

Past Member .

6:10AM PST on Feb 19, 2010

now that congress has lost most of its political power, see THE DEFENSE PRODUCTION ACT REVISED AND AMENDED 2009, there really is no point for anyone to run for congress. think I am crazy? look up the full text of this ACT.