Hey, Mary Sunshine! What Evan Bayh Did was NOT a Gift!!!

As the day wore on yesterday, it was amazing to me all the Evan Bayh apologists that began to crop up positing that by dropping out 24 hours before petitions needed to be filed to get on the primary ballot, Bayh was somehow doing us a favor, because now the Indiana Democratic Party can pick the best candidate.   The last time I checked, Evan Bayh WAS the best candidate since he was leading both of the biggest names on the Republican ticket by double digits.

The assumption is that because Dan Coats is a disaster of a candidate, and since Bayh waited until the last minute, thus making sure that GOP heavy hitters like Mike Pence cannot jump into the race, the Indiana Democratic Party will be able to choose a candidate that will cakewalk to the election in November.  Unfortunately, one of the greatest myths out there is that the Indiana Democratic Party has this sort of great organizational machine.  While this may have been the case in the 90s, the party itself is a shadow of its former self.  They and the Marion County Democratic Party and the INDems though arrogance and ineptitude lost the Mayor of Indianapolis to an unknown with very little money in the bank, they were not able to put up a viable candidate to compete against Mitch Daniels in 2008, and has pretty much watched Democratic fortunes wane in the smaller offices across the state.  It seems the only success they have is when Bayh's name is on the ticket (or a Democrat that is a Democrat in name only...I'm looking at you pro-life, pro-gun Rep. Brad Ellsworth).

The gift that Evan Bayh has given us is chaos, and in my experience, chaos is rarely rewarded.   The fact of the matter is that despite the 2008 election, Indiana is still a red state, and there are a lot of people that are fed up with chaos and Washington right now.  While Bayh would have won this year, it would not have been as easy as he is used to, and if the party thinks a Ellsworth or Baron Hill can walk in and win easily, they are being arrogant and absolutely crazy. The only gurantee that we were going to hold this Senate seat is if Evan Bayh had stayed in the race, and while he may not have handed the Republican's his office, I do not think anyone can argue that their prospects are a hell of a lot brighter at 10 am today than they were at 10 am yesterday.

All I can say is if his quitting the Senate is some sort of clandestine attempt to reposition himself as an outsider for another go at President, this is one Hoosier who will NOT vote for him again, and if he REALLY wants to give a gift to us, he'll open up his war chest and donate all $13 million to the Indiana Democratic Party.  Otherwise, I cannot help but see his act yesterday as a complete slap in the face.