All along, Evan Bayh has been seen as a possible VP as a way to appease Hillary supporters. No one, outside of her own family and maybe Ed Rendell, was a bigger surrogate for her campaign. And as the party coalesced around Obama, it was easy to see Bayh's stock slipping. After all, he didn't exactly help Hillary romp in Indiana.
But the news of the last few days has me thinking he could be on the short-short list. This isn't based on any inside knowledge, just something I read on 538 extolling Obama's strength in the Midwest and then seeing a reference to Bayh somewhere else. Nate notes: "Why haven't the Democrats thought about nominating a Midwestern candidate before? States like Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa and Missouri have all traditionally been swing states, giving the region the most fertile electoral soil on the map, winnable by either party in any given cycle. Two new polls today suggest that having a Midwestern candidate in Barack Obama may be paying dividends to the Democrats."
So where does the Bayh/Gore connection come into this? One of the things that made Gore such a powerful potential VP for Clinton was how he reinforced the image Clinton was trying to project: young, DLC-type and Southern. With so much of the Midwest in play, Obama could consider Bayh for a similar play. Both are young and Midwestern, and Bayh's "centrist" persona might help Obama appear less liberal than he is. I can see the two of them barnstorming the Midwest, all smiles and corn husking. For all the talk about expanding the map into the Southwest and South, it could be the Midwest where Obama breaks McCain. If Obama carries all the states that border Illinois (including Bush states Indiana, Missouri, and Iowa, not including Kentucky), not to mention Ohio and Michigan, which are quintessentially Midwestern, McCain is finished.
In no way am I advocating for this. I am not a fan of Bayh (in fact, he really bugs me). But if Obama goes with him, it'll have less to do with Hillary and more with those "heartland values."