No link yet, but Indiana Democrat Evan Bayh won’t seek reelection.
You know, Bayh was my Nightmare Veep Pick back in 2004 — and I still think he might have put Kerry over the top that year.
UPDATE: Here’s the link, but there’s not a lot of meat to the report. Want some pure speculation? Bayh was facing a tougher-than-expected reelection bid (that part is true), and might be positioning himself for a primary challenge against President Obama in 2012 (that’s the speculation).
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ANOTHER UPDATE: McGehee comments, “GOP be warned: I’d rather have Evan Bayh in the White House than Mike Huckabee.”
Amen to that.
There has to be some wicked internal polls out there that’s driving the Dem establishment to do this. These folks have to be seeing real numbers that say that the constituents are at the “Tar and Feathers” level or they would be hanging on to office like like grim death.
Is it just me, or are there quite a few incumbent Dems deciding to “retire” this year? I’m rather amused by all the ship-jumping. It’ll make my mid-term Election Day bender that much more entertaining in November
It will be hilarious if even just one Democrat party member opposed BHO in the primaries [though opposition will not be permitted, in my opinion].
GOP be warned: I’d rather have Evan Bayh in the White House than Mike Huckabee.
I’d vote for Obama if the other choice was Huckabee.
Charlatan and faker. He’s just another Elmer Gantry.
“There has to be some wicked internal polls out there that’s driving the Dem establishment to do this.”
Yup, that’s most likely what is occurring. Evan Bayh would probably have lost by minimally a four-point margin in November. The purple state voters who earn their living in the private sector are making the crucial difference. They realize that their economic future and that of their children is threatened by the big government policies of the Democrats and their “moderate” Republican allies. Bayh may also be thinking about challenging Obama is 2012. He therefore cannot afford to lose in 2010.
Jeez, Jack, that’s the choice from Hell! I might even go Nader before either of those two.
McGehee, agreed. Even if the Huckster picked Palin as his VP. I like Palin, but not that much.
Hmm… Bayh/Lieberman, anyone?
Birch Bayh was also according to Rasmussen only a few points ahead of his likely Republican challengers. He would have to essentially burn his bridges with the Democratic Party to save his political rear end. That price was deemed not worth paying. Bayh probably still wants to be president.
OK, here’s an interesting contest – can anyone name somebody they’d prefer Mike Huckabee to as president?
The only person I can think of is David Duke.
@11 Charles Manson?
If the choice comes down to Obama or Huckabee — what the hell is wrong with you, America!
Bayh was the last truly moderate Democrat. Leaving now at the prime of his career when he still had a decent shot at keeping the seat is a clear sign there’s no place for such men in the Democratic party anymore, that there’s nothing left but Trial Lawyers, Tree Huggers, and blame America-First Liberals. That scares me on a different level because they still have control until January of next year no matter what happens. By the time the lunatics are gone, the damage they do might be too big to undo.
I don’t think he was facing that rough of a road to re-election. I think that the idea that he’s positioning himself for a primary run is a good one and getting out now will serve to distance him from the potential disaster that is facing this Democrat congress. If they push through their agenda in defiance of the people, they’ll face a revolt at the polls from the center and the right. If they take a pass on everything, they’ll face a revolt on the left. They’ve left themselves very little room to maneuver.
And, McGehee, I would agree with that sentiment (although, please, God, don’t make me make that choice).
Off topic, but this is important breaking news
Christina Hendricks is featured on the cover of the new New York magazine
http://nymag.com/fashion/10/spring/63808/
This bears more attention.
Zomby-
Originally from Indiana, I still have folks there. Bayh was in BIG trouble for signing the Health Care Reform Bill.
The anti-incumbent atmosphere may claim a few squishy Republicans too.
Me. As in, “Me.”
I can’t imagine that launching an ICBM strike on the White House press room would be good for children and other living things.
Actually, I’d prefer Huckabee to Obama. But not by much and that’s not a compliment.
Greybeard, you may well be right, and I’m sure he would have had to work a bit, but I would have been surprised if he had lost. But that’s from my lofty perch in Colorado, so what do I know?
Wow.. what’s all the disgust with Mr. Huck? Don’t get me wrong, I would not call myself a supporter, and I’m not sure I disagree, but picking O or any Dem for that matter over him… Please fill me in.
Bayh’s “moderate” credentials are based on voting with the far left nearly 100% of the time, but then saying afterward that he felt conflicted about it. He voted for the stimulus, for cap-and-trade, and for Obamacare. What good is that? If he were President, Pelosi and Reid would be running the show, and he’d still be signing everything they put across his desk.
He was fiscally conservative as an Indiana governor, but as a “Blue Dog Democrat,” he’s shown himself to be far more concerned with ingratiating himself to his party’s power structure than the principles he campaigned on. Since Reid took over in the Senate, there’s no Democratic cash avalanche too big for him. He wants to reach the top, and to do that, he’s had to throw his Indiana governing style in the garbage and play POR’s game.
My theory is that he’s quitting so that his record doesn’t make him even more unelectable. Can’t win a Democratic primary by being a thorn in everyone’s side, and you can’t win a national election by having a far-left record.
The “rather Bayh than Huckabee” sentiment is a dangerous one. Would he in many ways be a better President than Obama? Yes, almost certainly. Would he return to the center and honestly attempt anything that could be remotely considered bipartisan? No, probably not. In the end we’d end up with four more years of the same nonsense with slightly less angst out of the oval office.
I don’t recall Bayh, or any Dem, making any sort of attempt at bipartisanship during the Bush years. If he, or any of them have suddenly seen the light, I would suspect it has much more to do with peasants waving pitch forks and heating up the tar than it does an honest concern that the country is on the fast track to economic ruin.
Personally, I’ll take a half-decade or so of Huckabee’s social conservatism to get us out of the economic and foreign ruin that has been heaped upon us. And, frankly, if the majority cannot tolerate that, we flat out deserve a European health care system, economy, statist government and an utter lack of personal and economic freedom.
Mr. Lion, it isn’t Huckabee’s so-called social conservatism I object to, it’s his poorly disguised nanny-state Bloombergism.
Huckabe isn’t a so-con, he’s a faux-con.
Granted, though, I’d put his voting record, which is certainly not exactly sunshine and roses on certain issues, against Bayh’s any day of the week.
Not saying I want the guy in the big chair by any stretch, however, as I said, the “anyone but X” mantra is what got us in this mess. I’ll take the candidate that shows SOME promise over the one that shows absolutely none.
With that said, I’d say the chances of Huckabee getting the nod are about as likely as Hillary going after Obama in ’12.
I pray you’re right.
Congratulations, we’ve re-enacted the past thirty years in twenty-five comments!
The entire “Huckabee may suck, but he’s not a Democrat” is exactly why the GOP is in such bad shape right now, because they continue to elect populist wanna-bees like the Huckster, or country club Republicans like Romney, mainly because they aren’t Democrats.
“Vote Republican: we suck less.” And that’s worked so well.
P.S. I’ve seen a healthy number of unsubstantiated claims in this thread. Be nice if folks actually gave links to support their statements. Just sayin’.
Evan Bayh had $13M reasons to retire now. He can take all the money in his campaign chest and say “Later Suckers!” I think that a lot more will do the same. A perfectly legal bait and switch.