Evan Bayh have to retired due to political issues or he is in democratic retirement wave which has been limited mostly to the House where more Republicans have actually announced retirements. May be Evan Bayh’s retirement follows exit announcements by Indiana Sens. Other political figures are Byron Dorgan and Chris Dodd .
It makes the race or Bayh’s seat more competitive.
Bayh’s departure may continues a recent exodus from Congress among both Democrats and Republicans, including veteran Democrats Christopher Dodd of Connecticut and Patrick Kennedy of Mass. The announcements have sprung up in rapid-fire fashion amid polls showing a rising anti-incumbent fervor and voter anger over Washington partisanship, high unemployment, federal deficits and lucrative banking industry bonuses.
Bayh’s seat has been rated as “lean Democratic” by the Cook Political Report, and Democrats had succeeded in launching a relentless attack on former Sen. Dan Coats since he entered his name into race against Bayh. Bayh had led both Coats and fellow challenger John Hostettler who was a former congressman by double digits, Coats by 20 points and Hostettler by 16 points in recent polls.

Bayh had nearly $13 million in campaign cash and was in good shape for the 2010 race.

With a Democratic exit relatively late in the cycle, it will give Coats and Hostettler a better chance at taking the Senate seat than they had yesterday. Democrats will now have to field a new candidate, and Indiana gets added to the list of states where Democrats risk losing seats in 2010, along with Delaware, Nevada, North Dakota, Arkansas, and Pennsylvania. Colorado also looks vulnerable. It’s possible that Sen. Blanche Lincoln, who looks quite vulnerable, will follow suit. It’s also reasonable that Sen. Joe Lieberman might decide to caucus with Republicans; if those seats are lost, Democrats would see their Senate majority shrink to a very thin margin after 2010. It is Bayh’s name was among a handful of well-known Democrats prominently mentioned as possible vice presidential candidates in both Sen. John Kerry’s 2004 run for the presidency and President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign for the White House. He was believed to have been on Obama’s final list. Obama settled on then-Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware.