As a former Hoosier, let me share my experiences with Mr. Bayh:

Than man sold out the Indiana Democratic Party every chance he got. He's like Lieberman, but better looking. Beware that man.

Andy

Sure, the "people" of America have no apetite for truth but if there's a snowball's chance in Hell, I'll vote for Russ Feingold. Check the voting record, check the interviews; this country isn't ready for anything as lofty as truth so nobody (I) won't get my hopes up but.. Ask the talibangelicals who they want to run in 2008 and they'll tell you Hillary Clinton! We've already seen the folly of two Bushes, do we really want to follow that up with another Clinton Administration? Oh the humanity!

spelling error folks, revoke my card!

Andy: Sorry you didn't live in Indiana long enough to have an historical perspective. Prior to Evan Bayh's election as Secretary of State in 1986, the Indiana Democratic Party could barely muster rent payments. He rebuilt the party and helped elect majorities in the Indiana House and his successor as Governor, as well as a Secretary of State, two Attorneys General, a Marion County prosecutor and the Mayor of Indianapolis, and scores of other Democratic officeholders who have adopted his brand of commonsense progressivism. Did you miss the point of Mr. Shapiro's piece: we have a chance of electing three great Members of Congress whose success may tip the balance in the House of Representatives, and all three want their voters to believe they are "Evan Bayh Democrats." And, Andy, remember that elections are about choices. Would you have preferred Secretary of State Bowen, Governor Mutz, Governor Pearson, Senator Helmke or Senator Scott? You Demo-gogues would prefer another Republican president to electing a battle-tested, Red State Democrat who does not mouth your orthodoxy.

The DLC and their fellow travelers better be watching their backs. Progressives and other real democrats are determined to stop them from cramming another republican-lite down our throats so that dems can go down to defeat AGAIN. The democratic wins in Congress next week will be DESPITE the DLC, Rahm Emmanuel and the rest of the DINOs, and BECAUSE of the progressive grass roots organizations that Howard Dean is building on the ground.

Bayh, Vilsak nor Hillary will never get past the betrayed and infuriated progressives in Iowa and New Hampshire who have been itching for revenge for 2-1/2 years.

So much talk of Southern Indiana being so conservative. Monroe county, Bloomington and the surrounding area is the most liberal area of Indiana, even more so than Indianapolis, the most conservative 'big' city there is.

Also, can we stop painting everything as red and blue? Like I said, parts of Southern Indiana are bastions of liberals here, and I don't mean just the occasional hippie. Indiana is a diverse place, as is much of the midwest and that is constantly overlooked by east/west coast journalists.

The fact that Ann Coulter said that Evan Bayh was 'one of the less crazy Democrats' (paraphrasing there) should tell you something.

I want my Democrats called moonbats and batshit insane by the screaming non-thinkers on the right.

Evan Bayh would be a mediocre candidate and a mediocre President at best. He represents the cautious, conservative, DLC types that are perhaps the best we can hope for from red areas that have been inundated with right wing propaganda and religious claptrap for decades, but in no way speaks for the mass of Democrats as a whole. No, wait. I take that back. Given Brian Schwiezer and Jon Testor, we can hope for better, even from red areas.

Yes, we may need some these types if we are ever to maintain a national majority, but they are not the ones who should be in charge of either the party or the country. I am always suspicious of any Democrat whose main selling point is his so-called "moderation" and a call to work together and end partisanship in Washington. We already have Joe Lieberman for that. He says "We're for strong national security, we're for fiscal discipline." That's nice. Who isn't? I'm sure he also likes apple pie. What about health care? What about the environment? What about the entire Democratic, progressive agenda? Bayh was for the war, and I mean hawkishly for the war before he was against it. He says now, "I wouldn't cast that vote knowing what I know today." Why? Because it would have been the wrong thing to do on so many levels from the moral to the practical in 2002, or because it is politically unpopular now? My guess is the latter.

But, don't worry. Bayh doesn't stand a chance in the primary, so we don't have to be concerned with his near total lack of charisma sinking him and the party in a general election. Bayh is not the "anti-Hillary." He is Hillary, but without the polarizing, name recognition, intelligence and experience. You want the "anti-Hillary?" Try Wes Clark or Al Gore.

"You want the "anti-Hillary?" Try Wes Clark or Al Gore."

Al Gore... Al Gore... wasn't he that fellow who distanced himself from Bill Clinton and then thought that the best person to be Vice President was Senator Joe Lieberman? That guy?