I know the DKos blogasphere is mad at Sen Bayh and wanted him to support the budget. But there are some very important reasons why primarying him will do not good and in-fact could do harm to our cause...
- IN is a open primary state. That means that Sen Bayh can and will pull a Lieberman without even leaving the party. All he has to do is ask Independents and Republicans to support him and they can just show up and vote...so now his constituency is even more Center/Right than before.
http://www.fairvote.org/...
- Progressive Punch puts his overall lifetime voting record at 78% (well 77.98% to be exact) which while not perfect, compared to Lugar (considered a moderate Republican by some) is 14.33% lifetime and only 6.68% when the chips are down. And that is a so-called moderate Republican
http://www.progressivepunch.org/...
- This is at best a terrible allocation of finite resources towards a hugely popular figure. The primary will only push Bayh further to the right responding to his new constituents after being primaried. Those resources would be better used for ousting Republicans.
- Sen Bayh serves a purpose as a buffer to Republicans and someone who can help us bridge the gap when votes are needed.
- While POTUS Obama won IN by 1%, we should not overinterpret that historic election by saying that now IN is a blue state. There were a confluence of economic, neighboring home state, historic election and Evan Bayh himself campaigning for POTUS Obama...
So primary whoever you want but, this is an emotional issue that is not a rational use of finite resources when we have so many other great targets to expand our power and influence in Washington...Peace