Decision ‘08

Bayh Says No To 2008

First Mark Warner, now Evan Bayh:

Senator Evan Bayh, Democrat of Indiana, who just two weeks ago took the first steps toward a White House bid in 2008, announced Saturday that he was quitting the race. He said he had concluded that his hopes of winning were too remote to make it worth continuing.

Mr. Bayh’s withdrawal, which stunned many Democrats, came less than a week after he saw his visit to New Hampshire overshadowed by the crush of attention surrounding a trip there the same day by Senator Barack Obama of Illinois.

In much of the national coverage by the news media, the contest has been portrayed, notwithstanding the expanse of the Democratic field, as a race between Mr. Obama and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, complicating efforts by lesser-known candidates to hire staff members, raise money and get noticed.

“The odds were always going to be very long for a relatively unknown candidate like myself, a little bit like David and Goliath,” Mr. Bayh said in a statement. “And whether there were too many Goliaths or whether I’m just not the right David, the fact remains that at the end of the day, I concluded that due to circumstances beyond our control the odds were longer than I felt I could responsibly pursue.

“This path, and these long odds,” the statement continued, “would have required me to be essentially absent from the Senate for the next year instead of working to help the people of my state and the nation.”

Blame it on Barack…

One Response to “Bayh Says No To 2008”

1 Ryan Bonneville Says:
December 17th, 2006 at 6:50 pm
This is slightly sad for me because I genuinely like Evan Bayh and was looking forward to seeing him run. On the other hand, I don’t think anyone loses by his staying in the Senate for a very long time.