While Bayh comes off arguably more conservative than Gore is now, we all know that Gore has moved progressively toward the visionary left over the last decade.
A strong supporter of Hillary during the primaries, Bayh would help to bring democrats together, and since he is a senator from Obama’s neighboring state they know each other.
Obama has said that he is looking for a running mate who first and foremost would clearly be prepared and able to govern if something happened to him; of course this is as it should be and I think there would be no question that Bayh provides this.
Obama has also said that he wants with his Vice President, a political partnership with the kind of energy and chemistry projected by the Clinton/Gore team and he could have that with Bayh who at 52 comes across as a contemporary of Obama. They would be a heartland version of the two southern senators running together that went against the conventional wisdom in 1992, but turned out to be a winner for the Democratic party and the country.
Bayh also brings executive experience having served as Governor of Indiana, elected at the tender age of 32; yes Bayh too is something of a political wunderkind. He has national security experience serving on the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence Committees that can round out an Obama ticket and he would also of course help with the blue collar and white guy vote.
Personally, Evan Bayh comes across as a positive, pragmatic, good looking, a bit self-effacing, all-American guy with midwestern values. He appears to have a strong marriage like Obama and is the father of two just turning teenage sons. What’s not to like here? While he doesn’t ooze charisma like Obama, he is charismatic in a solid practical common-sense Jimmy Stuart sort of way. And for those old enough to recall, he delivered the keynote address at the 1996 Democratic Party Convention and Bill Clinton once remarked to him that he hoped one day to be voting for Bayh for President! So he could even help bring Bubba back into the fold.
Bayh has a record of accomplishment that would certainly strengthen the ticket. While Governor he is credited with having helped his state to become one of the strongest, most financially secure economies in the nation. A fiscally conservative Democrat he promotes fiscal responsibility, lower taxes, job creation and leaner government. He governed eight years without raising taxes and had the largest budget surplus in state history. He also had a very strong record on increasing educational opportunities for all, including low-income students, created more than 350,000 new jobs, instituted tougher laws on crime; and improved environmental quality.
In the senate he has built a reputation as a pragmatic consensus-builder working to find bi-partisan solutions that will break through gridlock. This will only help to strengthen faith in the democratic ticket, underscore Obama’s message of working together for change and appeal to centrist democrats, independents and disaffected republicans. And to top it all off: Bayh wants to serve as Obama’s Vice President!
You don’t seem to say much about Bayh’s actual positions. What does he stand for that you like? You mention that he “has a very strong record on the environment”-such as?
though with the way things look to be heading in the general election republican lite strategy sessions, I’m sure Bayh is getting plenty of looks. /sigh
maybe he should stay governor so some idiot doesn’t wind up with the job.
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p>This is also why Bobby Jindal shouldn’t be the republican choice.
Hard to get a Dem elected statewide in Indiana–and the Republicans are going to use the Senate to block any new public works, any troops returning, any move toward health coverage for all, any move toward stopping global warming.
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p>But I agree with you that Jindal is not an idiot: the only way an Asian could win in Louisiana is to lose the name his parents gave him (Piyush) and lose his ancestor’s’ religion and do the bidding of Big Oil, and Jindal never hesitated.
The post gave me the idea he was a governor.
While I wouldn’t go so far as to call Bayh republican-lite,
Ryan is correct that Bayh would be a “safe” choice, yet still I think a winning one and I’ll admit that my 17 years living in the heartland may have predisposed me to this choice.
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p>Let me also admit a bolder choice, but riskier might be Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed who is an anti-war pro-choice catholic with a Harvard law degree, but also a degree from West Point. Granted he is the more liberal choice and perhaps the more interesting one and is closer to Obama on a number of positions. I’m willing to call Reed my “sleeper alternative.”
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p>Yet Obama has let it be known that he admires Lincoln’s decision to bring those with different and rival views to his administration. While Bayh isn’t radically different in his positions from Obama, having supported Hillary and his DLC background would offer more contrast and in needed quarters inspire trust in the ticket.
you’re just asking for the media to obsess over whether or not he is a faithful catholic or simply one by name. Personal stuff like that will detract from the issues, which is the opposite of what you want.
One of the biggest bashers of the first Catholic presidential candidate since JFK was the Church. They even suggested that John Kerry be barred from communion. Which is to say the Church itself made his faith an issue.
Filming and disseminating.
The point is this was a Church started issue, not a media issue.
I don’t think that the Church should be faulted for taking a position on what it views as a very important moral issue.
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p>To that extent, it warranted some coverage in the media. Instead, it got coverage and more coverage and more after that. Far more than was warranted by the news value.
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p>Why is that? Because it is precisely the sort of thing that TV news covers best. No reporting, no resarch, no knowledge or understanding, just reactions and counter reactions.
If you’re talking “culture of life” and give Bush a free pass on the death penalty, you’re clearly stirring the pot.
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p>No disagreement at all on the unfortunate “he said, she said” nature of today’s news.
I originally posted about Sen. Bayh as a solid VP pick a few months back, http://vps28478.inmotionhosting.com/~bluema24/s… though there are other candidates I would personally prefer. Jack Reed is one of those candidates. He brings a tremendous amount to the table, decorated military service, a vote against the war when that was NOT the popular choice, etc. The problem as I see it is that if Reed were elected, that would leave a vacancy in the Senate. That vacancy would be filled by gubernatorial appointment, specifically by Don Carcieri. Do any of us honestly think that a sitting Republican Governor would not shoehorn a fellow GOP’er into this seat? Yes, I think that we all expect the Dems to take a larger majority in the Senate, but can we afford to gamble on removing a proven leader in the Senate before we are sure? Just asking.
Webb offers a definite, pre-emptive no:
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p>”Under no circumstances will I be a candidate for Vice President.”