Centerfield

Bayh is the most logical choice to pick off red states in 2008. Bayh won more percentage points in IN that Bush did, and his Midwest influence may be enough to pull IA (or maybe OH, but that's less likely) back into the blue.

The questions outstanding are: 1) does he want it? 2) would the Dean wing of the party support him? (and subsidiarily, who would oppose him for the nomination?) 3) does the party feel disinclined to support another D.C. insider?

Re the last, I submit (without having checked) that Bayh's record is more centrist than Kerry's, or even Edwards's. Bayh's record as governor seems very favorable to the center, but not so attractive to the Dean wing. How he behaves in the Senate on the Bush agenda, including any SCOTUS nominee(s) may be decisive.

A running mate like Blanche Lincoln from AR would solidify the ticket for a centrist run. Since the South seems lost to the Democrats for the long-run, the only play is in the Midwest--and that assumes a centrist candidate can retain the current blue states.

Just to address the questions you posed: 1) Bayh threw his hat into the ring for the 2004 election briefly, but pulled out because he was up for reelection in the Senate and Indiana law dictates that you can't run for two offices at the same time. 2) I think the "Dean wing" would support him after he got the nomination (assuming he did) if for no other reason than because they are tired of GOP control. 3) The D.C. insider point is a toss-up, with the possible advantage for Bayh being that he was a successful and very popular governor of Indiana for 8 years.

Your other points are also very well taken, although I think maybe Bill Richardson would be a better veep candidate than Lincoln, because he would solidify New Mexico, possibly swing Colorado and Nevada, and at least put Arizona into play.

But does he have ka-RAZZ-ma? Anyone familiar want to post bios or press coverage on him? It occurs to me that if we start now, we could possibly identify a GOP and Democratic candiate who is centrist, and possibly push the parties away from their usual wingward primary tacks.

this would gop hand in hand with encouraging centrists to vote in whichever primary affords one the best chance to push one party or the other towards the center. Independents and unenrolleds can't influence the nominees without participating in the primaries.

Bk,

Unfortunately, I was too young to really remember much about Bayh when he was governor and do not live in Indiana anymore so did not see him during this last Senate race (although I doubt he had to do too much he is so popular in the Hoosier state). I do know that he is good-looking and appears youthful, which will always bump up the perceived charisma, even if there is not much there to being with. Side note: I just did a quick google search with "Evan Bayh" and "charisma" and got a bunch of hits.

There's an inspiring biography on Bayh's Senate webpage, although such biographies are intended to be inspiring and are rarely substantive.