Evan Bayh just broke a lot of Democratic hearts:
INDIANAPOLIS - U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh will not seek a return engagement as Indiana's governor in 2012.
[. . .]
Democrats had hoped he'd resurrect them in 2012, as he did in the 1980s, by running for governor.
That leaves Democrats with only a couple of candidates who'd have a chance of winning in 2012, Brad Ellsworth being the most obvious. Though his conservative credentials weren't enough to beat Dan Coats for the U.S. Senate seat, I suspect he would appeal to a lot of crossover voters here. The real drama will now be on the Republican side. If Mike Pence decides to run, he's probably the favorite. If he decides to go for the presidency instead, Lt. Gov. Becky Stillman is the obvious choice for Republicans, and I think a Skillman-Ellsworth race would be a toss-up.
Of course, Republicans are perfectly capable of totally screwing up the next two years, in which case, never mind.
Comments
Bayh is a good guy, I've voted for him before, and I admired the job he did as Governor. That being said, he's backing off of the Gubernatorial race because he knows Indiana is pretty much done with all things "democrat" in general for some time.
My guess is Pence will run for Governor, he's going to resume build before jumping into a Presidential run and he'll win the Governors office easily.
Now if we can convince Mitch to primary RINO Lugar we'll be in really good shape!