Mike Pence considering run against Evan Bayh in November
(By Reid Wilson, Hotline On Call) - In the wake of winning MA, GOPers are looking to put 1 more state in play if they can convince House GOP Conference chair Mike Pence to run against Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN).
Pence and his aides will meet with top staffers at the NRSC tomorrow, several sources tell Hotline OnCall, where they will discuss a possible bid. The NRSC has polled IN, and their survey shows Pence in a competitive position, though he trails Bayh in initial matchups.
GOPers have failed to recruit a top-tier challenger against the popular 2-term incumbent, thanks largely to Bayh's bankroll. He had $12.7M in the bank as of Sept. 30, and GOPers expect he would be able to raise many more millions before Election Day.
Pence and his aides will meet with top staffers at the NRSC tomorrow, several sources tell Hotline OnCall, where they will discuss a possible bid. The NRSC has polled IN, and their survey shows Pence in a competitive position, though he trails Bayh in initial matchups.
GOPers have failed to recruit a top-tier challenger against the popular 2-term incumbent, thanks largely to Bayh's bankroll. He had $12.7M in the bank as of Sept. 30, and GOPers expect he would be able to raise many more millions before Election Day.
posted by BP News Bureau | 3:00 PM
1 Comments:
(Hot Air) - In a sense, Bayh has the same kind of cachet in Indiana as the Kennedys do in Massachusetts, only on a smaller scale. His father Birch spent eighteen years in the Senate and established the household brand in Indiana. Bayh took a run at the presidency in 1976, further heightening his appeal – but that didn’t save him from Dan Quayle in 1980, who buried him and his liberal voting record in the Reagan landslide.
Unfortunately for the younger Bayh, those days appear to be coming around again. As I mentioned earlier, Bayh has insisted that he represents true moderation, but his vote for the ObamaCare bill makes him as vulnerable as his father was in 1980. At the same time, the midterms are very likely to be a national referendum on the Democratic agenda as a whole, which still contains the cap-and-trade bill that would devastate Indiana if it passes — with or without Bayh’s vote. Indiana voters have a tremendous incentive to strip Harry Reid (or whoever replaces him) of a vote in the caucus.
Until now, Bayh has been able to rely on two key facts to hold his seat: $12.7 million in the bank and no top-drawer challenger. The latter will change if Pence gets in the race, and the former may not do Bayh any good if the NRSC backs Pence’s play. Democrats outspent Scott Brown in the last week of the campaign on at least a 5-1 basis and still lost by five points in perhaps the bluest of blue states. A Pence run that targets Bayh’s acquiescence on ObamaCare and potential vote for cap-and-trade may generate an even bigger landslide in what is usually a center-right state anyway.
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