Evan Bayh

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Template:Infobox Senator Birch Evans "Evan" Bayh III (born December 26, 1955) is an American politician who has served as a U.S. Senator from Indiana since 1999 and a former Governor of Indiana. He is a member of the Democratic Party, and has recently become considered a potential Democratic candidate for the 2008 presidential election.

1 Early life
2 Governor of Indiana
3 Senate career
4 Candidacy for National Office
5 Noteworthy Speeches
6 External links

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Early life

Bayh was born in Shirkieville, Indiana. His father, Birch Bayh, was a Senator from 1963 to 1981 and ran for the Democratic nomination for President in 1976, but lost it to Jimmy Carter. The younger Bayh graduated with honors in business, economics and public policy from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business in 1978, where he was a member of Phi Kappa Psi, and received his Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from the University of Virginia in 1981. After clerking for a federal court judge and entering private law practice in Indianapolis, he was elected Indiana's Secretary of State in 1986 following a heated debate over whether he met the state's five-year residency requirement to be on the ballot.

He and his wife Susan have twin sons, Beau and Nicholas, born in 1995. She is a law professor and serves on several corporate boards.

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Governor of Indiana

Image:Bayh Tax Cut.jpg Bayh was first elected Governor of Indiana in 1988, defeating Frank O'Bannon in the primary, and defeating John Mutz in the general election. O'Bannon went on to become Bayh's lieutenant governor. He was re-elected governor in 1992 with the highest percentage of the vote in a statewide election in modern Indiana history. His administration was considered cautious but successful (even by Republicans in the state), creating a large state surplus and permitting him to cut taxes. "Mr. Bayh’s record is one of a genuinely fiscally conservative Democrat," reported the Wall Street Journal in 1992. Stressing fiscal responsibility, lower taxes, job creation and lean government, Bayh's tenure as governor is highlighted by: eight years without raising taxes; the largest single tax cut and budget surplus in state history; "welfare-to-work"-type social programs; increasing annual school funding; high academic standards and new college opportunities; the creation of over 350,000 new jobs; strengthened law enforcement; and improved environmental quality. He signed the 21st Century Scholars Act in 1992, legislation which says that every child growing up in Indiana who is eligible for the free lunch program in a public school, graduates from high school with passing grades, and signs a pledge not to experiment with illegal drugs, is entitled to a full college scholarship to a public university of his or her choice. By the end of his second term, Bayh had an approval rating of nearly 80 percent [1].

When his second term as governor ended in 1997, he became a private citizen again. He bought a house in the Meridian-Kessler neighborhood not far from the Governor's Mansion and accepted a lecturing position at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business in Bloomington.

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Senate career

Image:Evan Bayh campaign logo.JPG

Bayh was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1998 to the seat that was once held by his father. He won with 64% of the vote, the largest victory margin ever by a Democrat in a U.S. Senate race in Indiana. He easily won reelection in 2004, receiving 62% of the vote. He currently serves on five Senate committees: Banking Housing and Urban Affairs, on which he is the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on International Trade and Finance; Armed Services; the Select Committee on Intelligence; the Special Committee on Aging; and the Small Business Committee.

Bayh released a biography in 2003 entitled From Father to Son: A Private Life in the Public Eye. He describes growing up as the son of Senator Birch Bayh and emphasizes the importance of active, responsible fatherhood.

From 2001 to 2005, Bayh served as Chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), the longest term of any DLC chair (previous DLC Chairmen included Bill Clinton and Joe Lieberman). He is also a member of the Senate Centrist Coalition and helped establish the New Democrat Coalition. Bayh serves on the Board of Directors of the National Endowment for Democracy.

On January 20, 2006, Bayh introduced a resolution to deal with Iran's nuclear program. The resolution calls for economic sanctions created with the goal of deterring Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Such sanctions include:

· Cutting off supplies of refined gasoline to Iran,

· Cutting assistance to countries whose companies invest in Iran's energy sector,

· Enacting a worldwide, comprehensive ban on arms sales to Iran,

· Withdrawing U.S. support for Iran's accession to the WTO, and

· Calling on the UN Security Council to limit travel of some Iranian officials, reduce diplomatic exchanges with Iran, and ban Iran from participating in world events such as the World Cup and the Olympics. [2]

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Candidacy for National Office

He was considered a possible running mate for Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election and was selected by Bill Clinton to give the keynote address at the 1996 Democratic National Convention to reinforce his efforts to cast himself and the Democratic Party with a new moderate image. Some experts and pundits initially considered Bayh to be a possible running mate for presidential candidate John Kerry in the 2004 election because his native Indiana was a key state in the important Midwest. Indiana has long been a Republican stronghold in presidential races, however, and it would almost certainly not be a swing state unless Bayh were nominated.

Bayh is also considered to be a possible 2008 Presidential nominee, due to his appeal to "Red State" voters and his perceived electability. In the 2004 election he received more votes in Indiana than President Bush, a feat unheard of by a Democrat in a state as staunchly Republican as Indiana. Some believe that Bayh would be a very appealing moderate in some future presidential campaign, with many critics portraying a candidate like Hillary Clinton as too liberal and polarizing. Bayh is often mentioned as leading or complementing a ticket of other possible moderates such as Governor Mark Warner of Virginia, or Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico, both of whom could give him advantages in the South and Rockies/Southwest respectively as Vice-President. He already has a large war chest of 9.5 million dollars, making him secure financially no matter what he decides to do.

Recently, Bayh has engaged in activities that many characterize as the laying the foundation for a Presidential run in 2008. On June 9, Bayh addressed Iowa business and civic leaders and told reporters he would travel to the state in August. On July 15, Bayh spent the weekend in New Hampshire. He has spoken to groups of Democrats in the potential swing states of Wisconsin, Ohio and Colorado. In addition, Bayh has conducted fundraisers in Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco and St. Louis. In May 2000, President Bill Clinton said, "I hope and expect some day I'll be voting for Evan Bayh for President of the United States" [3]."