http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/dan-coats-retirement-democrats-hopeful-116358.html?hp=rc3_4Democrats see glimmer of hope in Dan Coats’ retirement
By Kyle Cheney
3/24/15 2:01 PM EDT
Updated 3/24/15 10:33 PM EDT
Indiana Sen. Dan Coats’ announcement on Tuesday that he will not seek another term has heartened Democrats who now see a slight chance to pick off a red-state Senate seat in 2016.
At the top of Democrats’ wish list is former Sen. Evan Bayh, whose $10 million war chest has kept him firmly on the party’s radar. But a Bayh adviser threw cold water on the possibility late Tuesday.
“He received several calls urging him to run for the United States Senate. He is not a candidate for United States Senate in 2016,” said Dan Parker, Bayh’s former state director and former chair of the Indiana Democratic Party.
Asked whether that meant Bayh would not be a candidate at any point in the cycle, Parker repeated his assertion that Bayh “is not a candidate.”
“Evan wanted to thank Sen. Coats for his service,” Parker added. “He’s always been a good and decent man, and he served the people of Indiana admirably.”
Bayh told POLITICO Campaign Pro last week, before Coats’ announcement, that he’s not interested in returning to the Senate, although he stopped short of a Shermanesque refusal to run.
Read more:
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/dan-coats-retirement-democrats-hopeful-116358.html#ixzz3VP26L9y0
