Still equivocating, Bayh toys withDemocrats’ hopes
W
hen I was a junior in
college, I sat behind
the cutest and
smartest boy in my
300-level economics class.
He didn’t know who I was,
but I sure knew who he
was.
Whenever the professor
called on Evan Bayh, all eyes
were on him. He was clever
and engaging without being
show-off. He had a way of
convincing some of us that
we were smart enough to
catch on, too.
I got an A in the class — a
surprise to me, given that I’d
struggled in the prerequisite
math course.
Fast-forward 37 years, and
once again I found myself in
a gaggle of people with all
eyes on Evan. Only this time,
it was to hear him say he was
bowing out of the Indiana
governor’s race — a race he
really never entered.
For months, we’ve been
waiting to know whether the
former U.S. senator would try
to retake the job he first won
at age 32, when he was the
first Democrat in 20 years to
be elected to the Indiana gov-
ernor’s office and the young-
est governor in the country.
His flirtations were madden-
ing, especially for Democrats
dreaming of the Bayh glory
days.
Back when Bayh was gov-
ernor, both parties had vigor,
and he courted enough Re-
publicans to push through his
signature legislation, includ-
ing both education- and wel-
fare-reform.
Now, Indiana Democrats
just seem glum, diminished
in influence and overshad-
owed by Republicans who
have super-majorities in the
state House and Senate and
who control every Statehouse
office but one.
Bayh released a statement
Friday morning announcing
his decision and acknowledg-
ing his indecision was stand-
ing in the way. “I hope that
my decision will enable oth-
ers to step forward …,” it
said.
He then met individually
with a swath of reporters,
who were asking themselves
if any other Indiana politician
could garner that kind of cov-
erage for quitting a race he’d
never begun.
In my interview, he chided
me for sending out a tweet
that called him a “flirt” for
toying with affections of sup-
porters. But he acknowledged
the sentiment among hopeful
Democrats who saw him as
the party’s savior. “And it
makes me feel bad,” he said.
Bayh is still estranged from
some Democrats, who are
mad at him for sitting on a
nearly $10 million campaign
war chest he accumulated be-
fore abruptly quitting his
2010 Senate re-election race.
But many are still en-
thralled. As one party loyalist
pointed out, Bayh hasn’t run
a TV ad in Indiana for more
than a decade, and he’s still
the most popular Democrat
in the state.
The reasons he gave for not
running had nothing to do
with winning. Had Bayh en-
tered the governor’s race, he
could have won, political ob-
servers say.
Instead, Bayh cited the po-
larization that has seeped
from the national to state
level. Any Republican law-
makers who would cross the
aisle to work with him, he
said, would be crucified in
their next primary.
As a result, Bayh said, he
couldn’t get anything done. “I
■
He quits a
gubernatorial race
he never entered
6
Week of September 17, 2014
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Maureen Hayden
STATE OF THE STATEHOUSE
