Evan Bayh, we hardly knew ya
Just weeks after announcing the creation of an exploratory committee, Indiana Democratic Senator Evan Bayh dropped out of the race. Having decided that he’s too much of a long shot, he’s now trying to find other ways to be an influential voice for the centrists in the party and may just be angling already to be Hillary Clinton’s choice for VP. There’s also speculation that the popular former two term governor may leave the senate to take another shot at being the state’s chief executive. The state could certainly use a popular democrat right now to try to undo some of the damage that Mitch Daniels has done or to even just stop him from selling off the rest of the state’s assets and outsourcing its workers.
January 1st, 2007 at 6:10 pm
too much of a long shot
Heck, that hasn’t stopped Vilsack. I would be very unsurprised if a previously unknown Carter/Clinton type won in 2008.
January 1st, 2007 at 6:29 pm
I would be a little surprised. The compressed calendar and the ever greater importance of money make it a lot harder for an unknown to break out than in the past, especially the new calendar.
That Clintonw as an unknown is something of a myth. He may not have been well known to the retail voter, but Democratic activists had a fair amount of familiarity with the guy. He was someone that the powers that be within the party had been looking at as a possible future president during his entire electoral career.
January 2nd, 2007 at 12:38 am
As with Bayh. So why would he drop out?
January 2nd, 2007 at 8:47 am
Again, I say you have to go back to the change in calendar and the greater importance of money. Clinton didn’t do well in Iowa and he placed second (I think) in New Hampshire. It wasn’t until we got to some southern primaries that Clinton finally put it away. That took place over several weeks. The same number of primaries happen nearly all at once now. You don’t have nearly as much time to spend doing retail politics in each state. We know that Hillary has the money and connections to be powerful all the way through. John Edwards is popular in Iowa where the caucus goers are a lot more liberal than Bayh, making him the likely candidate to emerge as the anti-Hillary. Beyond that, Nevada now comes between Iowa and N.H. and Edwards is strong there, too. So where does someone like Bayh get his breakout moment?