GOODBYE BAYH

In a statement released early today, Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana took his name out of presidential sweepstakes hat … Apparently though not reportedly the site of his friends and family sneaking out the back of his New Hampshire campaign event last weekend to just on the off chance they might be able touch the hem of Barack Obama’s sport-coat, he decided that this just isn’t the year for him to run for president and so he won’t be a candidate for the presidency in 2008.

The reason behind Senator’s Bayh's decision appears to have been a remarkably sane assessment of his chances of winning the Democratic nomination are rather slim given a field that’s likely to include political heavyweight Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, the charisma machine slash hope factory also known as Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, 2004’s Vice Presidential Nominee John Edwards and soon to be Oscar nominated former Vice President Al Gore were too slender to justify commiting time and manpower for the next two years.

“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 — 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.”

You can read more HERE or HERE

I can’t help but note that Senator Bayh is the second serious Democratic to pass on a prospective presidential bid – after seeing Senator Obama in action, so to speak. After sharing a stage with Obama during Senator Tom Harkin, of Iowa’s, annual steak-fry, former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner shocked political insiders by announcing that he wouldn’t be a presidential candidate in 2008. (Think: those bands who refused to go on after Hendrix -- ‘cause apparently Warner was the big event back then to Obama’s opening act). Though some will say this is good news of John Edwards, I can’t help but see Bayh’s Indiana as another likely win for Senator Obama.