Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh Will Not Seek Re-Election

Today, two-term Democratic Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana will announce that he is going to retire at the end of the 2010 congressional session. This is another loss for the Democrats, seeing as how news outlets are reporting that Bayh could easily defeat Republican Dan Coats, who announced only five days ago his intent to challenge Bayh for his seat.

From Talking Points Memo:

R.J. Gerard, communications director for the Indiana Democratic Party confirmed to TPMDC that the state Democratic Party would be able to select a new candidate to run in November's general election if no one files petitions with 4,500 signatures (500 within each of the state's nine House districts) to run in the primary.

The petitions must be filed with the county clerk's office by Tuesday. Then candidates have until Friday to file with the Secretary of State for the primary ballot. The lack of another Democrat will mean there is a vacancy, leaving it to the state party's State Central Committee to choose a candidate at its June 30 meeting.

Are we going to have another Martha Coakley situation? We can only hope.

Furthermore, I'm puzzled as to how I feel about Bayh's decision to not seek re-election: that work in Congress is too divisive, and he would feel more accomplished working in a different capacity elsewhere. Okay, I would allow you that much. However, this is not the time to bow down in the face of opposition or difficulty. Democrats, suck it up, and get things done.