Evan Bayh launches exploratory committee

[thatsrightimirish]

Just saw it breaking on MSNBC

[demosincebirth]

1. What do they explore?

[IndianaGreen]

7. Bayh has been an empty suit in the Senate

perhaps they are looking for the substance that Bayh has been missing since he left the Indiana governorship.

Bayh will be appealing to the same ideological base that Hillary will appeal. This is good for those of us that dread a Hillary nomination.

[snowbear]

9. He sure keeps a decent approval rating going...

What is it you don't like about him? Fill us in Indiana!!

Bayh on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evan_Bayh

[tulip]

13. This Hoosier Likes Him

I think he's been a great governor and Senator for our State. He looks out for the Union folks in the automotive industry.............and trust me they love Bayh.

I think the best thing to do is to watch and listen to what he has to share in the coming months. I think it will surprise some of you..........maybe me too.

[IndianaGreen]

15. Go to the Indiana forum

you will get an earful!

Why a lightweight like Bayh, or a conniving triangulator like Hillary, when we have candidates of substance like Wes Clark, John Edwards, John Kerry, and Barack Obama?

[tulip]

19. Are you the spokesman?

I post and read the Indiana forum. Some like him and some do not but one thing is for sure I don't speak for anyone else here. One thing I do know about Democratic Underground and that is no one speaks for anyone else here. LOL.

:hi:

[rep the dems]

47. I'm not so sure he is a lightweight.

I think Bayh would appeal to a lot of people, and if nominated, I think he could probably beat any one of the Republican hopefuls. He's not my favorite, but I certainly wouldn't mind having him as President.

[salin]

52. Could be... but he was my governor, and then my senator

and he lurched to the right (further than the mod centrist he had been in Indiana) after bush was elected. Then to get an even better idea of how "great" he is - more than eight months after Bush's own pick as weapons inspector to Iraq comes back to the US and states that not only were there no WMDs to be found in Iraq, but that the on the ground evidence suggests there were no WMDs prior to the war - or prior to the time they were destroyed during weapons inspections in Iraq - More than eight months after this becomes public knowledge, Bayh is on a Sunday talk show trying to justify his support for the war (while it is beginning to seriously dwindle) and he asserts definitively that WMDs are in Iraq and will be found.

Definite opportunistic lightweight - says this (and many other) hoosiers. Heck, most folks (dems) that I know here in Indiana respect Lugar more than Bayh (per intelligence) - though we are prone not to vote for him - as even if he has integrity he still primarily votes the repub line.

[tulip]

55. WE?????

"though we are prone not to vote for him"

Nothing personal but there is no "we", I get the feeling you're talking about your own feelings on the topic. As far as I know no one from Indiana asked any one person to be their voice. The folks in Indiana are very excited about this run, of course there will be some that do not but in general Hoosiers love Bayh.

[salin]

56. yes, "we"

per the specific parameters of whom I was refering to in the post - not to all hoosiers, nor all dem voting hoosiers, - but per my post " Heck, most folks (dems) that I know here in Indiana respect Lugar more than Bayh (per intelligence) - though we are prone not to vote for him Note that I do not expand beyond "most folks that I know here in Indiana..." I don't know you - nor most of the more than a million people in Indiana - and I do not, nor did not in my post (as you suggest) infer that anyone beyond that group holds the position that I stated. I was very careful to be exclusive rather than generalizing in that statement. I am sorry that you did not catch that point when reading my post - and I did not try to suggest that the "we" referred to anyone other to those whom I refered to in that sentence. However - I do stand by that sentence - and if you do chose to challenge that, I would be very happy to refer you to a good number of folks in several different communities (to whom I refer) to ask if my reference to including them in the "we" is correct.

Frankly, no one has spoken to me with any enthusiasm about this run. Heck, to make my point, in 2004, when Bayh was running for reelection - we had a democratic volunteer come to the House - asking race specific questions about the congressional race, local races and the presidential race - but nothing about the senatorial race (Bayh's reelection) - the end of the pitch/questions, was a fundraising question (I have worked on that end, so no begrudging that tactic from me.) There was no question about Bayh and the senatorial race. I found that interesting enough to comment about that - was that intentional or an oversight by the individual? The individual (door to door volunteer) sort of laughed - ya, you noticed that too ... Seems that among those likely to donate - Bayh (who at that point was still not just an Iraq war supporter - but a supporter of the idea that the justifications to go to war (WMDs) were 'real' - long after it was clear that this wasn't the case - to those likely to donate - his name (in this area) was a dampener rather than a wallet opener. I would NEVER claim that this is true throughout the state, or throughout any communities. However, among some, this is not an uncommon sentiment.

So while you object to your interpretation that my post stated that "we" generalized to a broader set of dems in this state than what I actually stated - I would in turn suggest that your generalization that specifically suggests a "we" as in all of hoosiers - are excited about his campaign - is also - more than inaccurate. There are some - and perhaps only the people that I spend time with (so perhaps we really are a small sample and everyone in the state that I do not know is wildly supportive of him) - who do not - so ironically your use of generalization which has no qualifications to it - does exactly what you suggest that I do - which is mistate the assertion.

That said - can we just claim that there are some (perhaps many) who are excited and supportive, but there are also some hoosiers who are less than enthusiastic? Fair enough statement?

on edit - for clarification - the 'not prone to vote for' - in the quote was about Lugar... point was there was more respect for the way that Lugar's staff responded to constituent letters (timeliness, and on point content rather than vague form letters that often did not respond to the initial letter sent to the senator.) My point was that the folks I know had more respect for Lugar than for Bayh, though they were not likely to vote for Lugar (but in statewide elections would vote for Bayh). Perhaps it was that point that led to the lack of clarity that led to the responding defensive post.

[tulip]

59. Yep

"That said - can we just claim that there are some (perhaps many) who are excited and supportive, but there are also some hoosiers who are less than enthusiastic? Fair enough statement?"

I can live with that. We move in different circles and in different parts of Indiana. Most of the folks I have spoken are excited that Bayh is going to run and fully support him. A few others like Hillary.

[salin]

60. interesting about Hillary

I know of a few who were 'Clinton haters' (both Clintons) at the onset of the Bush years - who now really like what they hear (as in speeches) from both - and now feel that the Clintons (both) speak "for them". First time I heard this it knocked me over with a feather. I think that the extremism of bushco - that was exemplified with the whole Schaivo thing, knocked the Rushian rw propoganda inspired cotton out of some ears and some folks, for the first time in years, started actually listening to the message/speeches instead of only hearing what the rw later interpretted those speeches to say for them. Very interesting times these.

[IndianaGreen]

75. We are so excited about Bayh that if Obama announces

we are going to form the core of Indiana for Obama. I'll bet you Bayh will be gone out of the picture by the time the Indiana primary rolls in May.

[Indiana_Dem]

16. all i know about him is....

1. He is a social liberal who votes positively for many pro-choice issues.

2. He voted against the Military Commissions Act.

3. He did approve of some Supreme Court nominations that were "iffy".

4. His father was friends with the Kennedys.

5. He easily wins in a red state, chosen both for Governor and Senate. If he is a fake Republican, he is a socially liberal fake Republican that other Republicans voted for over the real Republican.

If the Dems could win over Indiana who hasn't gone for a Dem president since LBJ in the 60s, then so goes the rest of the country and all of the Dem candidates that trail along with him in '08.

He may be boring to many but he has been squeaky clean.

Personally, I am beyond liberal in my leanings but my choice could never get elected by the mainstream. From a purely strategic standpoint, Bayh would be one of those alternatives to Hillary that could have a chance at winning.

Personally, I would like to see a Gore/Obama ticket but I don't even think that would cut it in this nation. My favorite was Kucinich....fat chance. I would favor Bayh over Hillary although I think they think somewhat the same. I'm just tired of the Clinton-Bush monopoly on the presidency.

[Catchawave]

22. Ooops, I posted the wiki link too :)

Didn't see yours skimming through the thread the first time. I like his numbers, and looks like he was a wildly popular governor. I wish him luck too :hi:

[calimary]

50. I didn't know that much about him until I saw him on CSPAN, after some

local town hall meeting, talking to this little old lady after the meeting ended. She was one of the attendees who came up to him afterwards. She questioned him about protecting the vote from further theft and compromise - and referred to the theft of the presidential election in 2004. His response? He pooh-poohed her, saying her concerns about 2004 were basically unfounded - couldn't possibly have happened - and he put no creedence in it whatsoever.

That was all I needed to hear.

Buh-bye, Bayh.

If somehow he does wind up being our standard-bearer, I will support him reluctantly. Better than some republi-CON, I suppose.

[mtnsnake]

74. You hating him makes me automatically like him. nt

[NMDemDist2]

10. if they can raise any money n/t

[TayTay]

36. In order to begin, legally, to collect funds

I believe this allows them to go to supporters and collect monies.

[BluegrassDem]

2. This will go over like a ton of bricks on DU

LOL

[snowbear]

6. Three reasons I won't diss Evan Bayh despite your comment Bluegrass...

1) I don't know anything about Bayh other than he's a very good speaker.. NOTHING about him personally.. :shrug:

2) There are too many DU'ers who claim to hate anyone affiliated with the DLC, who have DLC candidates as their avators..

3) Like every single Democratic candidate, I'll hear him out if he runs..



Remember.. Back when Howard Dean was HOT, HOT, HOT.. no one had a clue that Kerry would eventually emerge as the frontrunner!

[tulip]

11. Fair Enough!

;)

[davidwparker]

3. He wants to explore his low numbers in presidential polls. Yawn.

[skipos]

4. How were Clinton's numbers in 1991? nt

[davidwparker]

17. Don't know. I didn't consider Clinton until Perot cracked up. Had

he not dropped out the race the first time and started babbling about his daughter's wedding, I would have voted for Perot and not given Clinton a second thought.

Perot woudn't have signed NAFTA.

[tulip]

5. Media Alert

I would have said something sooner but I will say it now.

Indiana Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN) will be appearing on ABC News' This Week with George Stephanopoulos on Sunday, December 3, 2006. The following blurb is from the website of the show:

SUNDAY EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., discusses the increasing violence in Iraq and his 2008 presidential ambitions.

Consult your local TV listings for the time that it airs.

[AnotherDreamWeaver]

62. Evan Bayh on ABC News

I got this information from All America Pac, and Bayh is the Honorary Chair. From: [e-mail]

"As a reminder, Evan Bayh will appear on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos on Sunday to discuss the Gates nomination, Iraq, and other issues. This Week airs on Sunday at 9:00 a.m. ET in Washington, D.C.

To find out when This Week airs in your town, click here."

But I don't have TV access. If anyone knows where this will be posted on the web for internet viewing I would appreciate hearing about it.

Thanks, ADW

[tulip]

67. it's on aapac

[AnotherDreamWeaver]

69. thanks

watched it this morning. This is my first heads up on him. Interesting that he is above Kerry in the poll they mention.

[Alhena]

8. Don't underestimate Bayh ...

Several years ago Bill Clinton said he looked forward to voting for Bayh for president some day. Clinton doesn't just throw out statements like that. So Bayh shouldn't be judged based on his low visibility/poll numbers now.

I tend to think Bayh would be our most electable choice, but at the prohibitive cost of nominating someone who is basically a Republican. He voted for the horrid bankrputcy bill, and that is about as close to a deal-breaker to me as anything could be. Besides, this is not the year we need to even consider nominating a quasi-Republican. We can nominate a real Democrat like Obama and still win. If this were 4 years ago, someone like Bayh would have been preferable to losing the election, but the conservative movement has now peaked.

[Clark2008]

14. Two things I've learned living in a purple state:

1.) Candidates like Bayh won't win because if it's a choice between a Republican and a fake Republican, the Republican will win every time.
2.) Independents and moderates aren't (yet) going to vote for a black man.

Therefore, neither one of those people - Evan or Barak - will win a national election.

Thank you.

[skipos]

21. I read a variation of this statement about every other day on DU:

"Candidates like Bayh won't win because if it's a choice between a Republican and a fake Republican, the Republican will win every time."

And I see hundreds of posts about Hillary/Vilsack/Bayh/Lieberman etc being "Dinos" or "fake Republicans."
Yet, the voters choose those "fake republicans" over "real Republicans" in PLENTY of elections.
Maybe it is time to revise #1? :shrug:

Also, 63% of moderates voted for Ford in TN. Maybe it is time to revise #2 too? :Shrug:
http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2006/pages/results/states/TN/S/01/epolls.0.html

[Auntie Bush]

68. But, I bet Clark can!!!!!!!!

[Ignacio Upton]

30. He voted for that POS?

I hope not. I've heard people say Obama voted for it too when that's bullshit.

[snowbear]

34. Here's his voting record..

And his comments under each item he voted for or against:

http://www.vote-smart.org/voting_category.php?can_id=CNIP9107

[sendero]

12. Otherwise known as....

.... "trial balloon".

[longship]

18. Don't pre-judge Bayh.

I am very liberal.

But Evan Bayh would bring a lot of good things to the campaign.

He's squeaky clean.

He's quite progressive on social issues.

He supports the unions.

He's been reelected in one of the most conservative states in the country, so of course his voting record tends to be conservative.

I like all the DLC congress critters much more than I like the DLC itself. But Bayh is one of the stand-outs. He is emminently electable. He's a great speaker.

Depending who's in the race, I could even support Bayh in the primaries.

I could support him before Hillary, even before Kerry, and definitely before Obama.

I like him a lot.

[leesa]

28. Oh please. Have you ever listened to whet he actually said?

[longship]

35. Yes, of course I have.

I've met the man. I've heard him speak. He was a keynote speaker at our state convention in the 90's.

You do understand that he's a Senator from Indiana, not Massachusetts, and has to stand for statewide election every six years, don't you?

[Indiana_Dem]

38. I've met him and heard him speak live, too.

He wasn't as boring as people say. In the speech I heard him give, he emphasized our children and what we will leave for them. I forget the numbers but he had the exact amount our children and grandchildren would owe if we don't do something about the current deficits the present administration has run up. He emmulated a presidential-like presence when I saw him speaking live....maybe it just isn't caught on camera. He is not a screamer and I suppose these days everyone has to practically scream or be extremely witty in order to attract some attention....except for Howard Dean, I guess! Nevermind intellect these days, either. In my lifetime I've been through Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, and now Bush II. Maybe it was my young age but Nixon and Carter were ALWAYS boring to me, Reagan I just purely didn't like because he seemed fakey to me, Bush I I sort of liked listening to but scared me half out of my wits everytime he mentioned the New World Order crap, and I never really thought Clinton was a very captive speaker until his second term after he reached some level of presidential experience but by then he ruined it for himself. Bush II irked me from the moment I laid eyes on him--I thought he seemed NOTHING like his father and didn't seem very literate nor professional enough of a speaker for a president. Gore was never known as a wonderful speaker, either.

Studies have been done and found that the 1st thing people look for is how people look, the 2nd thing is how they say what they say, the 3rd thing is what it is that they actually say!!! That's sad because Kerry said some wonderful things and probably hardly anyone ever paid attention because they obviously didn't like his looks nor the way he spoke. I always liked his appearance and how he said things but then I appreciate more what people have to say than the mainstream, I suppose.

I was able to shake Bayh's hand and thank him for voting against the Military Commissions Act. He said he felt compelled to stand up for civil liberties. I read in a post further down that he voted for the Patriot Act, though. I didn't remember that. Perhaps coming up to him and shaking his hand with both my hands thanking for him voting against the MCA re-emphasized to him how important the issue is at this point.

[Ignacio Upton]

29. Bayh is better than Hillary, Vilsack, and Biden

But I would rather have someone who's ideologically like Gore or Edwards or Clark. However, one positive thing about nominating him would be that he would have strong coat-tails to help us keep Congress, especially in Indiana. I'm not sure if he could carry Indiana (hasn't voted for a Democrat in Presidential elections since LBJ!) but he could make it close.

[salin]

61. While I am not a big Bayh supporter

but have voted for him for state-wide office on more than one occaision, and I tend to view him as regularly favoring the interests of corporations over citizens (he nearly killed Oxley Sarbanes during the first go-round... until the second wave of corporate implosions starting with WorldCom shifted the dynamics around the bill with a tidal wave of public support that made it unstoppable towards passage), - he has on occaision bucked my predictions of how he would vote - in a pleasant way. Biggest example was bucking the interests of local giant Eli Lily - and voting against the corp friendly medicare prescription drug bill. Point being - he is not my first, third or fifth choice for nomineee - but were he the nominee, I would fall in line and back him. Even at his worst he is better than anyone likely to emerge from the GOP ranks.

[Catchawave]

20. Meet Evan Bayh via Wikipedia:

I'm impressed, definitely a moderate Dem and a really impressive resume. Enjoy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayh,_Evan

[snowbear]

23. I checked him out... Longship is right, he IS sqeaky clean !!!

Not a single freak'n single skeleton!!



Guess we'll have to have Indiana Green give us some dirt?

[Catchawave]

24. Beautiful family and TWINS too :)

Thanks for the photo :hi:

[snowbear]

25. Hey Catchawave...

What if he runs as VP for this guy? --->

They'll be CUTE little kids running all over the Whitehouse!

[Catchawave]

26. You may be on to something :D

[Indiana_Dem]

37. Yeah, I believe they almost lost the twins or something,

it was big news all the time in Indiana. As far as I know, there has NEVER been anything bad said about him in our state. If there was, we definitely would've heard about it by now.

[tulip]

39. Approval Rating of 79% in Indiana

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/12/01/bayh.presidency.ap/index.html
Elected governor in 1988, he was the first Democrat in 20 years to hold that office and -- at 33 -- the youngest state chief executive in the United States.

Bayh was often referred to as a "Republicrat" who courted the middle. He never raised taxes and he left office with a humming state economy, low unemployment and a record budget surplus.

His approval rating was an astonishing 79 percent in a state that hasn't voted for a Democratic presidential nominee since Lyndon Johnson's 1964 landslide.

[leesa]

27. Yuck.

[snowbear]

31. Yuck what?

If you don't like Evan, please let us know why.

A lot of us are still getting to know what he's all about and would appreciate the input; good, bad or ugly.

Why the "yuck"?

for filling us in.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

32. Bayh/Landrieu!

:party:


:patriot:

[mitchtv]

43. Landrieu ? Ha

I'd prefer a Democrat and one who would represent the wholr country

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

49. So would I.

:sarcasm:

[Hippo_Tron]

70. Senator Landrieu needs to focus on her re-election

I've interned in her office and she and her staff do great work for Louisiana. People outside of the state don't realize this and just look at how she votes on national issues.

She needs to be re-elected because I can't stand the thought of two David Vitters representing my state.

[Clarkie1]

33. Bayh, humbug!

:beer:

Kudos to him for this, though:

"Bayh has voted against confirming United States Attorney General John Ashcroft, Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito." (wikipedia)

He did vote to reauthorize that darn patriot act, though.

[ProSense]

40. Kudos? He's one of those responsible for "the castration of the U.S. Senate." n/t

[liberalpragmatist]

45. Didn't Feingold even vote to reauthorize the Patriot Act?

I could be wrong, but I remember at the time reading that Feingold would support it because of some amendments to the reauthorization that he felt made the bill more palatable.

[SaveElmer]

41. Bayh would probably be my second choice right now with Warner out...

Excellent Senator, extremely popular in a red state that he could take. Very serious guy, squeaky clean....right on most issues....possibly a tad conservative for my taste, but not out of the ballpark!

Drawback is that he is not the most dynamic speaker in the world

[bigdarryl]

42. Bayh has more experience than any of them

Current Senator former Governor with an 70% approval rating when he left the Governorship next to him it's Vilsack who has the next best experience. all this bullshit that he's an empty suit please ALL of them are empty suits including Hillary. plus senators are bad candidates for President

[nickshepDEM]

44. Bingo.

[tulip]

46. Bayh's political stats

Secretary of State (1986)
Evan Bayh (D): 828,494
Robert Bowen (R): 704,952

Governor (1988)
Evan Bayh/Frank O'Bannon (D): 1,138,574
John Mutz / Steve Goldsmith (R): 1,002,207

Governor (1992)
Evan Bayh/Frank O'Bannon (D): 1,382,151
Linley Pearson/Robert Green (R): 822,533

U.S. Senate (1998)
Evan Bayh (D): 1,012,244
Paul Helmke (R): 552,732

U.S. Senate (2004)
Evan Bayh (D): 1,488,782
Marvin Scott(R): 902,108

[Hippo_Tron]

72. Snooze, I look at the guy and "presidential" is certainly not what I see

Winning in a red state is impressive but doesn't reflect that he will be a good President.

[bayhforamerica]

48. Bayh

I am all for Bayh in 2008

[rep the dems]

51. Somehow I had a feeling you liked Bayh.

Welcome to DU!

[tulip]

54. We could tell

by your wonderful name and charm!

:)

[Kelly Rupert]

71. I like your tag.

Welcome to DU.

[fuzzyball]

53. Bayh would be the strongest nominee regardless of whom the repubs

nominate. If he can keep winning in Indiana, he can win any state.
Not a single state would be out of his reach, not even Idaho or Texas.

[Contrary1]

57. He voted

for the flag-burning amendment. That's enough for me.

I already told him I could never vote for him based on that fact alone.
So, even as a Hoosier...I won't.

[rep the dems]

58. In the general election or in the primary?

Because I actually said the same thing about the primary, but I've been rethinking it somewhat.

[Alhena]

63. Watched Bayh on Stephanopalous this am ...

it was all I could do not to fall asleep. Seems like a decent guy, but he will never make up the ground he has to make up on Hillary and Obama with his boring personality. I said earlier he should be taken seriosuly, but he now looks like a very dark horse to me. Vilsack actually impressed me more this morning - he was also on the show.

[tulip]

64. I watched it too.......

I thought he kicked and made sense. I wish Hillary would talk like this.

Video:
http://www.allamericapac.com/files/20061203_eb_abcthisweek.asx

I guess you can watch and judge for yourself.

[salin]

65. Six months after David Kay, Bush apptd neocon weapons inspector

in Iraq returned to the US and stated that there were no WMDs in Iraq and there was no evidence that there had been efforts to reconstruct WMDs in Iraq since they were dismantled by weapons inspectors in the 90s... Bayh is on the tv talkshows asserting that indeed he still believed the WMDs were in Iraq, and would be found.

lightweight.

[thatsrightimirish]

66. Let's look at it this way

If Bayh gets the nomination and wins Indiana, the electoral votes would be

263 Dem
275 GOP

So then all we would have to do is win Iowa to get the presidency. And if we win in Indiana, I have a hard time believing we would lose states like Ohio, New Mexico, Nevada, or any of the current blue states.

[Kelly Rupert]

73. I wouldn't mind seeing Bayh run

I think he'd be a solid candidate, even if the netroots dislikes him. I don't think he's got much of a chance at winning the nomination, but if he does I think he's one of our best shots at the White House.

[quiet.american]

76. Not Bayh-ing.

In the days before Howard Dean burst on the scene -- the days of Daschle, Pelosi and Gephardt, Evan Bayh was one of the major Dem talking heads always trotted out to hold forth on the Dem position. He couldn't use the phrase "this popular president" and "this president's strength on national security" about Bush enough, and even after Abu Ghraib -- in fact, at the Abu Ghraib hearing questioning Donald Rumsfeld -- he referred to the invasion of Iraq as being of a "noble purpose," "our purpose is nobler than our enemies, etc." -- you can find transcripts by Googling his name and that phrase. This kind of delusion gave me a permanent sense of "no-confidence" in Bayh. He doesn't have a clue.