Breaking: Sen. Evan Bayh to Retire
Here’s the Washington Post report.
Bayh was a DINO who never took a bold position on anything, unlike his father, Birch Bayh, who was an early opponent of the Vietnam War.
The money (literally & figuratively) quote:
“After all these years, my passion for service to my fellow citizens is undiminished, but my desire to do so by serving in Congress has waned,” Bayh will say.
What’s the over/under on how soon his lobbying career begins? My prediction: It already has.
Tags: 2010 Election
Evan Bayh wants to screw Democrats one last time, apparently. Apparently the deadline to get on the ballot in Indiana is this Friday. Yes, Bayh waited until the very last minute. I’m not going to miss Bayh, but this is bad news for the Democrats.
Bayh must either have a huge payday coming or a huge scandal about to break. The last polling showed him way ahead of his potential GOP opponent, Dan Coats.
This Friday….WTF??? It could be that Indiana DEMs twisted his arm and have someone in the wings….(crossing fingers).
I’m just reading now, a new candidate also needs 500 Democratic signatures from each of 9 districts to get on the ballot. Can this be done by Friday. A potential candidate has to decide basically right now.
Unfortunately Nancy, I’m reading now that this is a complete surprise to Indiana Democrats. Obviously they don’t have anyone waiting in the wings.
Then this is unbelievable treachery, UI. He must have a job waiting.
Bayh defines the term ‘piece of crap’.
He just decided? He didn’t tell the Party in advance?
For those still lamenting the Beaudhisattva’s decision not to run, contrast Evan Bayh’s self-entitled undistinguished career in the Senate with that of his father:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birch_Bayh
That’s likely what we had to look forward to.
The Rethug candidate was recruited as a sacrificial lamb, former unpopular and undistinguished Sen. Dan Coats. Actually a great spot for an insurgent populist candidate, if there’s enough time.
I agree Nancy – either he’s got a really cushy job lined up or some scandal about to break.
Coats apparently has issues with Indiana residency — in that he doesn’t seem to live there anymore.
Would not be surprised to see bayh either end up at some insurance company OR ar PHRMA since Tauzin just left.
Oooh, that’s interesting Cassandra. We’ll have to watch to see if Bayh is hired by PhRMA.
Here’s what Bayh is saying now:
Look for another GOP pickup in the Senate. It may well be that the GOP will have a majority in the Senate come January.
By the way — residency is an easy issue to deal with, cassandra. Indeed, all that is required under federal law is for the person to take up residence in the state before assuming the office.
Two words:
Hillary Clinton.
Scaaaandaaaalll….
Wonder if he would have quit like Palin if Obama had tapped him as VP over Biden.
Coats is still a weak candidate, thanks to Bayh and Coats’s own weakness, and Indiana’s delegation includes 5 Democratic Reps. I think the early favorite is probably Rep. Brad Ellsworth.
Two words:
Hillary Clinton
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Twoer words:
Harold Ford
Ford has been living in Manhattan for three years and hasn’t been paying his taxes through NY but he is seriously thinking of a challenge primary for the Senate. Is that a residency issue? He’s been paying taxes through Tennessee and their lower tax-rates ‘saving’ 30K a year.
And Ford has a problem with his taxes, not his residency. Coats does not have such an issue.
Of course, there may be some other GOP candidate who comes out of the woodwork to take on coats now that his is an open seat.
Birch Bayh – the name is right out of the Bold and the Beautiful soap opera. Brooke, Ridge, Thorne, Forrester, Birch.
Or it could have been on the short list for Palin offspring. 😉
Indiana is also a more conservative state than any other in the Great Lakes region. Like SuxCo Democrats, Indiana Democrats tend to sound like Republicans anyway.
hee hee yup! twig branch
here’s a few tweets –
downwithtyranny RT @ggreenwald How long will it be before Evan Bayh joins Dan Coats’ lobbying firm? Maybe Bayh and Coats can switch jobs.
downwithtyranny Put the Conserva in ConservaDems RT @markos So he waited till 4 days ahead of deadline to screw Dems one last time on his way out the door?
downwithtyranny RT @markos So will Bayh’s wife keep her cushy corporate boards now that he’s no longer important?
good riddance. maybe Carper will follow his fellow DINOs lead.
Realistically, in most states you can only get rid of a Blue Dog by accepting Republicans in their place. Delaware however has no excuse for Tom Carper.
Geezer, don’t paint all Sussex Co. Democrats with the DINO brush of yours.
And the nominating petitions are due tomorrow, not Friday. Basically, the party’s state leaders will choose the candidate.
Yeah, I just read that if no one qualifies for the ballot by tomorrow, the party can choose the candidate.
Which seems like convenient timing, yes?
Can a Lobbyist Go Home Again?
Noting the minefield Coats still has to pass through.
Delaware Politics seems to think Bayh has resigned to challenge Obama in 2012. Are they serious?
http://www.delawarepolitics.net/evan-bayh-out-of-senate-race/
Link exposed so you know what you’re clicking!
I’m reading now that there is a “Draft John Mellencamp” movement starting up. I don’t know how serious it is, but that would certainly be an interesting race.
John Mellencamp has a better shot at the Senate than Evan Bayh has at the Presidency.
Glenn Greenwald and others are warning that since it is a purpley-red state, it will be hard for DEMs to run anyone but a centrist.
A new post is hypothesizing that Bayh’s timing was actually good for Dems. Since there is no candidate the party chooses a candidate and there will be no primary (something only the party officials really believer) but it’s too late for the GOP. They already have two qualified candidates – Coats and Hofstetler and unless both withdraw, no one else can get on the ballot.
Senator Mikulski of Maryland to Retire
thevailspot.blogspot.com ^ | Feb. 15, 2010 | Rich V.
I’ve just heard from an impeccable source that Barbara Mikulski, the Democratic Senator who is up for reelection this November, will choose to retire. Mrs. Mikulski is expected to make her formal announcement in the next few days.
Ehrlich may reconsider an O’Mally rematch for Gov….
politico ^ | 2/15/10 | martin
A Bloomington, Ind., restaurant owner who had been running an obscure and uphill challenge against Sen. Evan Bayh for the Democratic nomination claimed Monday that she’s just 1,000 signatures short of qualifying for the ballot.
In an interview with POLITICO, Tamyra D’Ippolito said that after news broke Monday morning that Bayh was retiring, her campaign contacted Democratic officials in Indiana to request they help her get the needed signatures by noon Tuesday — when they must be verified by the state’s 92 country registrars.
It would be something close to a nightmare scenario for Democrats: were D’Ippolito to qualify for the ballot, she would be the likely nominee and the party would be left to face the GOP with a political neophyte who said she is running in part to take on a party establishment she said practices “sexism with a big S.”
Lizard, “voices in the head” is not considered an impeccable source.
my voices are smarter than your voices!
🙂
Mikulski, 74yo broke her ankle back in July. Underwent surgery (screws/pins) and is healing slowly. Still using a wheelchair six months later. She’s was never the picture of athletic health. It doesn’t take “insider information” to speculate that she is a likely retirement candidate.
About Italian restaurant owner Tamyra d’Ippolito, who had been running against Evan Bayh even before the announcment he wouldn’t seek re-election:
She’s a genuine progressive, with a heartfelt life story, if you believe her campaign website.
http://tamyraforsenate.com/
But, as noted above, she’d be crushed in a general election.
Even more fuel to the fire: Apparently she’s run her Italian restaurant as Bloomington, Indiana sporadically and faced financial difficulties.
But, I’ve heard some reports of conservatives racing to help her get the signatures she needs to become the Democratic candidate, which would apparently prevent the Hoosier Democratic Party establishment from naming a more mainstream candidate.
I personally think the one Hoosier Dem with sufficient heft to run a competitive race in Indiana is ex Congressman Lee Hamilton.
About Evan Bayh, as I noted in my WDEL blog, rather like NCC Council President Paul Clark and now retiring State Representative Bill Oberle: Bayh has long had a wife conflict-of-interest problem, which came into greater focus during the health-care debate, with Susan Bayh’s well-paid position on the corporate board of WellPoint, a health-insurance company.
Allan Loudell
WDEL Radio & http://www.wdel.com
It now becomes more apparent that the Indiana ‘Democratic’ Party, and Bayh himself, prefer an undemocratic process that will exclude Democratic voters from having any say in nominating Bayh’s successor.
Wow, a candidate chosen by the party insiders. Can’t you just feel your pulse racing?
Once again, Democratic Party ‘leaders’ give the finger to the grassroots, leaving a match between two corporate whores for the seat. Somebody had suggested John Mellencamp, and could you have just pictured that possibility? Instead, health insurance companies, HMOs, banks, et al, will decide the next senator from Indiana. It doesn’t matter what letter they have after their name.
U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg taken to area hospital after fall
nj.con ^ | February 15, 2010 | James Queally
U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg taken to area hospital after fall By James Queally/The Star-Ledger February 15, 2010, 9:51PM U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg was taken by ambulance tonight from his Cliffside Park home after suffering a fall, his spokesman said. The 86-year-old Democrat was conscious when he was taken to the hospital “as a precautionary measure,” said the spokesman, Caley Grey. Grey said he did not know if Lautenberg had fallen inside the Bergen County condominium or whether he had suffered any injuries. Lautenberg was elected to his fifth term in the Senate in 2008
With all due respect to Allan Loudell, Bill Oberle’s wife’s trinket shop can’t compare to Pam Scott’s Saul Ewing partnership nor to Susan Bayh’s professional positions. Really.
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nightmare scenario for Democrats: were D’Ippolito to qualify for the ballot,
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AGRED – from all accounts…and from Allan’s reporting that the GOP is rushing to her side. Bayh’s last minute announcement does in retrospect look like the two-edged sword of leaving the chosing to the insiders but also to avoid unelectable candidates on the ticket.
Senator Mikulski of Maryland to Retire
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Shoot, this would be terrible for DEMs and for women. She is magnificent.
“a candidate chosen by the party insiders. Can’t you just feel your pulse racing?”
I dunno. I think Kaufman worked out pretty well. The voters never would have chosen him.
Nancy: IIRC, Oberle’s wife’s business does nearly $1 million a year in billings with the state and its unofficial agency, Delaware Park. That’s on a par with Mrs. Bayh’s haul, I believe. What Pam Scott and Paul Clark get in indirect benefits might dwarf that, but he can always claim his hands are clean.
geeze, Kaufman was different. State law didn’t call for a special election or anything.
Granted, a.p, but it shows what would be possible in a Senate that was still chosen by state legislatures instead of voters. For one thing, the problem of raising all that money and disqualifying people who aren’t natural glad-handers would disappear. It would also put more meaning into those General Assembly elections — if naming a Senator were at stake, you wouldn’t see half the incumbents run unchallenged every cycle.
IN Dem Misses The Deadline
National Journal.com ^ | Reid Wilson
Restaurant owner Tamyra d’Ippolito (D) has enough signatures to make the ballot in the race to replace Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN), she told Hotline OnCall in a brief interview, but an official in a key district says she has failed to reach the threshold.
1. Watch for Brad Ellsworth. Sometimes you add by subtracting.
2. It’s one thing for cosmopolitan New York to welcome newcomers like RFK, Buckley and HRC as Senators. It’s another for Indiana, proudly flyover in its sensibilities, to see its former Senator (1) leave office [in face of possible loss to Bayh in ’98]; (2) become a lobbyist for unpopular big-money and foreign interests; and (3) be taped saying how he looks forward to moving to North Carolina. Coats will problems getting to the starting gate.
3. Geezer has a point on the nomination process. Election by state legislatures was a cesspool, but nomination by a committee of elders could in some circumstances yield a better candidate. Wouldn’t want to see it every time, but this committee should do better than the governors of NY, Ill or Colo. [Bob Casey Sr., picking Harris Wofford, on the other hand, was pure genius.]
Interesting that everyone is bashing the IN Democratic Party leaders for getting the chance to pick someone to hold the seat, yet nothing about the 36th GOP committee from selecting a nominee to replace George Carey and discouraging a primary.
A source of mine who is an elected official in MD, the Miklulski retirement stories are BS. But then again, it seems like Gecko is acting like the Grim Reaper today. Any other Dems you want to report ill health about?
And whats-her-name in IN didn’t have the required signatures. And all due respect, Allan, she’s more of a wingnut than she is a progressive.
DSCC says Mikulski retirement rumor is bogus.
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2010/02/16/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry6213129.shtml
That’s good, ’cause we need to keep our hypocritical closet cases in Congress. Er… sorry, went off-message there. Won’t happen again.
Delahunt says he might be the next to go
Boston Globe ^ | 2010-02-13 | Farah Stockman
US Representative William Delahunt said yesterday that he is considering retiring from his congressional seat representing the South Shore and Cape Cod, although he portrayed his deliberations as routine and said they are not related to challenges from Republicans who are energized by Scott Brown’s upset victory in last month’s special Senate election.