What announcement did Evan Bayh make about retiring?”
WASHINGTON – Sen. Evan Bayh, a centrist Democrat from Indiana, announced Monday that he won’t seek a third term in Congress, giving Republicans a chance to pick up a Senate seat. “To put it in words I think most people can understand: I love working for the people of Indiana, I love helping our citizens make the most of their lives, but I do not love Congress,” Bayh said at a news conference Indianapolis, where he was joined by his wife and two sons. The departure of Bayh, who was on President Barack Obama’s short list of vice presidential candidate prospects in 2008, continues a recent exodus from Congress among both Democrats and Republicans, including veteran Democrats Christopher Dodd of Connecticut and Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island. The announcements have sprung up in rapid-fire fashion amid polls showing a rising anti-incumbent fervor and voter anger over Washington partisanship, high unemployment, federal deficits and lucrative banking industry bonuses. Obama thanked Bayh for
Sen. Evan Bayh, a leading moderate Democrat from Indiana who was once thought to be a rising national political star, won’t run for a third term, a decision which imperils his party’s hold on the seat. Bayh’s stunning decision – announced Monday afternoon in Indianapolis – came as he geared up for what may have been his most difficult campaign in an otherwise gilded political life. The son of a senator, Bayh never lost a race over a career in which he was elected as secretary of state at the age of 30 and served as governor and senator for two terms each. Until Monday morning, Bayh gave no hint that he was thinking about giving up his Senate seat. Just the opposite: he had nearly $13 million on hand, had taken on a new role as the de facto head of a Senate moderate rump group and Democratic operatives in Washington and Indiana had already launched a withering series of attacks against former Sen. Dan Coats, whose seat Bayh took when the Republican retired in 1998 and who had begun expl
