Sen. Evan Bayh (D) announced today that he has contributed $1M of his campaign cash to help Rep. Brad Ellsworth (D-IN) succeed him in the Senate.
“This is a million dollar vote of confidence in Brad Ellsworth and Indiana Democrats,” said Bayh. “Though I am leaving the Senate at the end of my term, I am determined to help Brad Ellsworth and the 2010 Democratic ticket with the financial resources they need to run a successful campaign.” […]
“This unprecedented contribution will be put to good use in electing Brad Ellsworth … and in helping Democrats from the top of the ticket on down,” said IN Dem Chair Dan Parker.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m quite pleased that Bayh decided to share some of his spoils to help out Indiana Democrats with a tough election cycle. But the reality of the situation is that $1 million will only cover a small amount of the bill that was necessitated for Democrats by Bayh’s surprise decision to retire. And it’s not like Bayh is hurting for cash now; after cutting this check, Bayh will be left with a whopping $12 million left in his Senate account. He really needs to make a very substantial donation to the DSCC in order to offset a greater share of the costs of defending his open seat.
This is a nice and very welcome first step, but Bayh is still millions of dollars away from getting off the hook, lest he forever be saddled with the title of miser.
word on the ground is he is considering a 2012 gubernatorial campaign. He will probably hold onto most of his cash if that’s the case. I was disappointed to see that he only gave a million as well. He really could have coughed up more than that.
That’s an awful lot of money, really.
he continues to give out money like this, especially to Hill and other vulnerable Indiana House members and other Senate and House members/candidates I will take back everything bad I have said about Bayh in the past. Especially since he announced he wouldnt run for re-election a week before the deadline which I first thought would hurt us but ended up helping us.
THAT’S OVER 9000!!!!
I wonder if he is saving the rest for the DSCC? Maybe he wants to run for prez in the future.
The DSCC, the DCCC and the DGA then I would be happy.
So it makes sense to hold onto the majority of the dollars.
It would be a good guy move to give a bunch to Baron Hill, who seems to have gotten the short end of the stick in terms of this reshuffling.
I think that Evan and Susan Bayh should declare themselves a corporation (they practically are already) and just directly spend on Indiana Democrats here!