A new post from The Left Anchor.  You can read the rest of our vice-presidential profiles here.

Oh, shit.  It's gonna be Bayh. 
It's not official yet, but Bayh sure is talking like he's already got
the job, and there's speculation the deal's gonna go down tomorrow at a
joint appearance in Indiana.  So, we're going to do a short profile of
the man.

Evan Bayh is the junior Senator from Indiana.  He was elected in 1998 after having served two terms as governor.  According to a SUSA poll from this past February, Bayh remains very popular in his home state.  He holds an approval rating of 58 percent overall, and maintains a 50 percent of better rating among all major demographics, even among both pro-life and pro-choice voters.  As a former popular governor, and current senator, Bayh could conceivably put Indiana -- a state the Dems haven't won in 40 years -- back into play.  And unlike, Ted Strickland, or Joe Biden, Bayh doesn't undercut Obama's message of youth, reform, and change.

On the issues, let's look at the worst parts of Bayh's voting history (h/t NeuvoLiberal}:

1. Bayh co-sponsored Lieberman's Iraq war resolution, as did McCain. All three of them voted for the war.

1. Bayh is the main sponsor/author of the Iran resolution S.Res. 580 which  Lieberman and McCain are co-sponsoring. The house version of this bill, H.Con.Res. 362, calls for a (naval and other) blockade of Iran, an act of war.

1. Bayh voted for the FISA amendments/immunity bill, as did Lieberman. McCain would've voted for it had he not skipped the vote; he voted for an earlier version of the bill which contained retroactive immunity.

1. Bayh and McCain voted for the Kyl-Lieberman amendment (McCain was a co-sponsor).

1. Bayh, McCain and Lieberman voted for cluster bombing civilians and refugees (by voting against a bill proposed to ban cluster bombing.)

1. All three of them voted for Patriot Act Reauthorization in 2006.

1. He was the chairman of the DLC during 2001-2005 (coinciding with the worst Republican-lite behavior by the Democratic party, including many of them voting for the war.) Lieberman preceded him as the DLC chair.


2. He even voted for building a fence along the Mexican border.

1. Sen. Bayh also supports extending the death penalty.

1. Bayh also foolishly entertains the notion of creating private Social Security accountts.

Bayh was also head of the DLC from 2001-2005.  This was the very same organization that convinced the party that they were better off supporting the war and watched over as the party lost seat after seat after seat.  Which to to say, I would never want Bayh's old school strategy anywhere near the presidency.  But it's not all bad news with Bayh.  According to 538, he is far more liberal than the state in which he resides, and only slightly to the right of the average Democratic senator.  He votes the party line nearly 90% of the time.  He may be a conservative Democrat, but he doesn't appear to be a blue dog.  And I've got to admit, he gives a hell of a stump speech.