2012 Part 4

Evan Bayh
Evan Bayh is a second generation Democrat politician and is as accomplished if not more so than anyone that could possibly be in the field. After serving two terms as governor of Indiana, Bayh was easily elected to two terms to the United States senate. Bayh would have easily been elected to a third term, but announced recently that he would not run for reelection. He has hinted at continuing public service in some other aspect. Bayh came close to running for president in 2008, so higher office is definitely something he wants. Evan Bayh could be a very smart strategic move if he were to replace Joe Biden on the ticket in 2012. Aside from being extremely gaffe prone, Biden will be 73 by the end of what would be Obama's second term, and unable to win the general were he to run. Evan Bayh will be 61 in 2016 and will have any/all experience that one could ask for in order to run for president. On the political spectrum, Bayh is fairly center-left. He's pro-choice and has a voting record that favors small businesses. He was also a staunch opponent to both of the Bush tax cuts. His criticisms were similar to John McCain's, in that they were not matched by spending cuts. He also saw this as an being detrimental to the middle class. Bayh also has a 13 million dollar war chest to use for his reelection (or in this situation, election). After announcing he would not run for senate, he had a few options. One option would be to refund the money to the donors. The second would be to keep it and spend it in accordance to the McCain-Feingold campaign finance laws. He also could have turned this money over to the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee. He opted to keep his money. This type of fundraising ability combined with Obama's already stellar fundraising capability would make them more difficult to beat. The typical theme has been for me to give the cons of a situation following the pros. However, I really don't see much downside to a move like this. Bayh seems to be a smart choice and I would be very surprised if this option isn't being considered by the Obama administration.