After touring musical equipment seller Sweet­water on Thursday, U.S. Senate candidate Evan Bayh seemed ready to belt out the Elvis Costello hit song "(What’s So Funny ’Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding."

"We’re not going to make any progress as a country as long as we have the kind of divisiveness and the kind of anger we have in our politics," Bayh told reporters. "We need leaders who will build us up, not tear each other down, and that’s the kind of message I’m going to take across the state of Indiana."

Democrat Bayh told reporters he is running for the Senate seat he did not seek re-election to in 2010 because he thinks he can "play a role maybe in bringing people together, get Democrats and Republicans working together to try and grow our economy, try and balance our budget, fight terror. You know, I felt if I can do that, I can’t stand on the sidelines."

In the past 11 days, Democratic Senate nominee Baron Hill withdrew his candidacy and Bayh, a former two-term senator and former two-term governor, jumped into the race against Republican U.S. Rep. Todd Young and Libertarian Lucy Brenton.

The Indiana Democratic Party’s State Central Committee is to meet today to vote on filling the Nov. 8 election ballot vacancy. Bayh and Bob Kern, who has run for Congress several times in various districts, are the only candidates to replace Hill.

Young’s campaign and the National Republican Senatorial Committee have regularly portrayed Bayh as a Washington insider who abandoned his Indiana constituents to become a lobbyist. Citing media reports, Young’s campaign said Wednesday that Bayh "hasn’t quit his influence-peddling day jobs in D.C."

"I think it’s unfortunate that Congressman Young has chosen to attack me. He attacked your congressman, too, in the primary," Bayh told local reporters, a reference to the Republican nomination battle between Young, R-9th, and Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-3rd.

"I don’t want to go down that road," Bayh said. "I choose to attack the problems facing the people of Indiana. I want to build our state and country up, not tear some politician down."

Asked whether he was saying he won’t wage a negative campaign against Young, Bayh replied: "I’ll defend myself if I have to. I’m not going to let my opponent lie about me. But I would much prefer to focus upon creating jobs, making college affordable, those kind of things that help Hoosier families."

Asked for a response to Bayh’s remarks, Young’s campaign manager Trevor Foughty said in an email: "Evan Bayh has changed since Hoosiers last saw him casting the deciding vote for Obamacare and then skipping out on Indiana. In the time since, he’s worked as a lobbyist and an advisor to a hedge fund from his residence in Washington – jobs he still holds even as he’s running for Senate hundreds of miles away in Indiana."

Bayh’s visit to Sweet­water Sound was the first stop on a two-day tour of businesses in five cities around the state. He said the federal government can help businesses by "keeping regulations reasonable," "keeping taxes down" and "providing assistance for job training."

Bayh said he will campaign in Indiana next week rather than attend the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Young did not attend this week’s Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

bfrancisco@jg.net