In the fallout over Evan Bayh’s retirement announcement, one of the things we’ve been grappling with today was whether his timing was designed to prevent Indiana Democrats from holding a primary election — or whether that was just collateral damage from a last-minute decision.

I’m not sure we know the full answer to that yet, but here’s some new information to throw in the mix: On a conference call this afternoon with county Democratic chairs, Bayh and state party chairman Dan Parker argued that not having a primary election is a good thing for Indiana Democrats, according to someone who was on the call. Evan McMorris-Santoro reports.

David Kurtz

David Kurtz is Managing Editor and Washington Bureau Chief of Talking Points Memo where he oversees the news operations of TPM and its sister sites.