'Bye Bayh

A strange election season just got a whole lot stranger:

The Washington Post reports: Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh will not seek re-election this year, a decision that hands Republicans a prime pickup opportunity in the middle of the country.

"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.

This seems like a sudden decision -- just last week, he was announcing plans to shoot new campaign commercials. It will be interesting to hear his reasons at the 2 p.m. press conference. Granted this is going to be a tough year for incumbent Democrats, but he has tons of money in the bank, and at least one poll had him easily beating his closest rival.

And won't this leave Democrats hard-pressed to get a replacement. Unless there is a waiver possibility I don't know about, doesn't a candidate have only until Friday to get the 500 signatures each from our nine congressional districts? People were wondering if Dan Coats had enough time to do it, and he's already been at it more than a week. This last-minute pullout is not going to endear Bayh to Democrats, should he ever think about politics again.

If Bayh were still favored to win while he was in, the odds now are with whoever wins the GOP nomination. There's no other Democrat with the name recognition and statewide appeal of Bayh, and Indiana was already returning to its pre-Obama Red State status.

Coats sure had impeccable timing, didn't he?

UPDATE: From what I'm now hearing, because this announcement comes so late in the game, that will create a vacancy, so Democrats will have a chance to name somebody later despite the normal petition deadline for other candidates. Early speculation seems to be favoring Reps. Brad Ellsworth and Baron Hill.