Joseph Gerth

@Joe_Gerth

Former U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh officially entered the Indiana's U.S. Senate race on Wednesday, saying that he would try to end the gridlock that has paralyzed the capital since he left the Senate in 2010.

"I think Congress is more broken today than it was six years ago, and I think the consequences are even more serious than they were six years ago," said Bayh, who eschewed a third term saying that he was disillusioned by the partisanship he saw in the Senate.

"I'll tell you what's changed, ... the American public is fed up, and it's going to demand that its elected officials behave differently and work together to solve our problems rather than this constant political fighting and gridlock and a lot of negativity," he said.

Bayh declined to assign blame for the dysfunction he sees.

"We'll have a new president, there's a relatively new speaker of the House, there will be one new leader in the Senate, and I think a combination of all those things give us a fighting chance to actually make the place more productive and better," he said.

The 60-year-old Bayh is expected to officially become the Democratic nominee on July 22 when the state Democratic Party's central committee will select a candidate.

Former U.S. Rep. Baron Hill shocked the Hoosier state on Monday when he announced that he was withdrawing from the race, opening the way for Bayh, who quit the Senate in 2010, to make a comeback.

The new Democratic nominee will face 9th District U.S. Rep. Todd Young, who beat fellow Congressman Marlin Stutzman in the May primary.

Young had been the favorite before word circulated Monday that Bayh would enter the race. Three non-partisan newsletters that make congressional election predictions immediately moved the race into the tossup range.

Young said in a statement that Bayh is part of the system that many think "is rigged against them," and suggested that Bayh believes the Senate seat is his birthright.

"This Senate seat does not belong to the Bayh family for whenever it's convenient," he said. "It belongs to the people of Indiana, and Hoosiers expect a Senator to share their values and their experiences and to represent their interests."

Bayh is potentially the most popular Democrat in the state. He's the son of three-term senator Birch Bayh and has won statewide elections five times for secretary of state, governor and U.S. Senator. In his last three races, Evan Bayh never got less than 61 percent of the vote.

Bayh said since leaving office, he has done public service. For months, he said he wasn't interested in the Senate but said he began to think seriously about it near the end of last week.

"Baron Hill called me, we spoke," Bayh said. "He informed me of his decision (to drop out), urged me to run."

WISH-TV in Indianapolis reported that Bayh's first television ads will begin running on Thursday and a search of Internet domain names found an evanbayhforindiana.com website already functional.

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Hill was having trouble raising money, and Bayh still had nearly $10 million left in his war chest, which made him attractive to Democrats. Bayh said he didn't know how much the race will cost but said "campaigns have become way too expensive."

Politico reported Monday that it was Chuck Schumer, the New York Senator who will become Senate Democratic leader in the next congress, who convinced Bayh to jump back into politics after retiring from the Senate in 2010 and complaining about the gridlock that made it difficult to get things done.

If anything, it has gotten worse.

In recent months, Politico reported that Democrats were privately circulating polls that showed Bayh with a double-digit lead over Young, of Bloomington.

Indiana Democratic Party Chairman John Zody praised Hill for getting out in a statement Wednesday.

“This week, Baron Hill showed courage by putting Hoosiers ahead of his own political future," Zody said. "He and everyone else knows how high the stakes are in this election and the importance of protecting and fighting for the middle class in the U.S. Senate.

"Indiana Democrats look forward to having a commonsense leader who will work with Sen. Joe Donnelly, and as our meeting to fill the vacancy approaches, I look forward to discussing Senator Bayh’s candidacy with the State Central Committee.”

Republicans have already been criticizing Bayh because he went to work for a lobbying firm after leaving the Senate and has expensive homes in Washington D.C. and in Florida.

Indiana GOP Chairman Jeff Cardwell said in a statement that "The Indiana Democrats are so desperate to put together a 'winning' ticket for November that they placed another re-tread, out-of-touch, lobbyist on the ballot."

Joseph Gerth can be reached at 502-582-4702 or jgerth@courier-journal.com.

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