Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN), who yesterday announced that he won’t seek a third term in the Senate, made the TV rounds this morning, talking about the “brain-dead partisanship” in Congress and trying to put to bed rumors that he plans to run for president in 2012.
Bayh explained on Good Morning America that he’s leaving the Senate because of the “strident ideology” that has deadlocked Congress. “The extremes of both parties,” he said, “have to be willing to accept compromises.”
Bayh continued that “until we change this town, until we reform Congress,” he can “get more done to help my state and the American people by doing something in the private sector.”
On The Early Show he added: “If I could create one job in the private sector by helping to grow a business, that would be one more than Congress has created in the last six months.”
Bayh was also asked about the fact that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) didn’t know about his plans to leave the Senate until after it had already been reported by the media.
Bayh said that he “had discussed with Senator Reid as long as a year ago” his feeling that there has been “not enough practical progress in Congress.”
“In the hurly-burly of making these announcements sometimes phone calls get delayed,” he added.
On Morning Joe, Bayh was asked why he waited until now, the week of the filing deadline, to announce his intent. He replied “because I had to.”
He also said that liberal Democrats need to “make common cause with the independents and the moderates,” because there are “not enough on the far left-wing of the Democratic party to constitute a majority.”
“Some progress is better than none,” he added.
Bayh was also asked about the possibility that he will switch parties to run against President Obama in 2012. He responded that there is “no possibility whatsoever” of that happening.
