Former Hoosier Senator Teases Washington

By Simone Pathé

Posted April 23, 2015 at 2:59pm

When a retired lawmaker sitting on nearly $10 million fired off an email with the subject line “An important announcement” just ahead of the Thursday lunch hour, Washington took notice.

Former Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh is the biggest name on the Hoosier State’s Democratic bench — a name that’s been coming up a lot since GOP Sen. Dan Coats announced his retirement in March. Bayh’s been mum about jumping in the race, and with nearly every member of Indiana’s delegation showing interest in the seat, the contest has turned into a free-for-all . Given his name identification and the whopping $9.9 million cash-on-hand total Bayh retired with in 2010, he’d be an immediate front-runner should he get in the race. So, was Bayh’s noontime missive (sent from evan@evanbayhforindiana.com) the announcement Democrats have been waiting for?

“Earlier this month, Hillary Clinton formally announced her campaign to be our next President,” the email began. For Hoosier State political types, here’s where the heart-thumping started: “Now it’s time to make an announcement of my own …”

Bayh’s announcement was not, in fact, about putting his massive stash of cash to use. Instead, the retired senator used his email list to solicit campaign donations for the former secretary of State and first lady. Welcome, if unsurprising, news for Democrats, but probably not what they were waiting for.