Obama hit hard as Bayh bows out

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Obama hit hard as Bayh bows out

by Jim Mannion Jim Mannion – Mon Feb 15, 4:27 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama suffered another setback Monday as

a fifth Democratic senator, centrist heavyweight Evan Bayh, decided not to run

for re-election in dismay at the bitter political climate.

Obama, who reportedly tried to talk Bayh out of retiring, faces a looming

Republican resurgence and risks watching strong majorities in Congress crumble

in November mid-term elections, and with them his ambitious reform agenda.

With his tearful wife and two sons at his side, Bayh, 54, expressed

disenchantment with excessive partisanship in the Congress as he announced his

decision at a press conference in the state capital Indianapolis.

" For some time, I have had a growing conviction that Congress is not operating

as it should. There is too much partisanship and not enough progress -- too much

narrow ideology and not enough practical problem-solving, " he said.

" Even at a time of enormous challenge, the peoples? business is not being done. "

Democrats expressed shock at the development, seeing it both as the loss of a

key consensus builder in the Senate and of a candidate strongly favored to win

re-election in Republican-leaning Indiana.

A top White House official said Bayh, who called Obama on Monday morning, was

" by nature a governor not a senator. "

The New York Times reported that both Obama and White House chief of staff Rahm

Emanuel tried to convince Bayh to run again, but to no avail.

In a statement, Obama praised Bayh for " reaching across the aisle on issues

ranging from job creation and economic growth to fiscal responsibility and

national security.

" I look forward to continuing to work with him on these critical challenges

throughout the rest of the year, " he said.

Republican Dan Coats, a former senator who later served as US ambassador to

Germany, recently announced he would challenge Bayh, who has never lost an

election in Indiana and once considered running for the presidency.

The son of Indiana senator Birch Bayh, he was best known as a moderate who

co-sponsored a 2002 Senate resolution authorizing the Iraq war.

" He is a centrist, and it seems that the center is not holding, " said Diane

Ravitch of the Brookings Institution in a posting on Politico.com. " If senators

such as Bayh leave or lose, the rancor in Washington will get louder and

meaner. "

His decision not to run for a third term was the latest sign of trouble coming

at Obama and his Democrats as they head into mid-term elections amid rising

public anger over high unemployment and economic uncertainty.

Explaining his disenchantment, Bayh pointed to last week's collapse of

legislation aimed at creating jobs and a Senate vote against a bipartisan

commission to deal with the exploding deficit and debt, which he called " one of

the greatest threats facing our nation. "

" After all these years, my passion for service to my fellow citizens is

undiminished, but my desire to do so in Congress has waned, " Bayh said.

" My decision was not motivated by political concern, " he said. " Even in the

current challenging environment, I am confident in my prospects for

re-election. "

Polls indicate that Bayh could easily have won re-election, making his decision

all the more frustrating for Democrats struggling to hang on to the large

majorities they won in 2008.

A poll last week showed Bayh, who is reported to have 13 million dollars in his

campaign chest, with a 20-point lead over Coats.

" My decision should not reflect adversely upon the president, " Bayh said,

calling Obama's agenda " the right agenda for America. "

But it follows the loss of the Senate seat in Massachusetts held for decades by

the late Senator Kennedy, which stripped Democrats of the 60-seat

majority they need to override Republican delaying tactics in the 100-seat

chamber.

Bayh is the fifth Democratic senator to opt not to run for re-election in 2010,

a list that includes other party heavyweights Dodd of Connecticut

and Byron Dorgan of North Dakota.

It was unclear who would succeed Bayh as the Democratic candidate from Indiana.

Possible contenders include Representatives Baron Hill and Brad Ellsworth. The

deadline for filing is Friday.

Coats, 66, faces a challenge for the Republican nomination from former

representative Hostettler.

Democrats had already mounted bruising attacks on Coats, casting him as a

carpet-bagger who lives and votes in Virginia, a lobbyist for drug industry

interests and a foreign agent for interests as varied as Venezuela's Hugo Chavez

and Yemen.