| I believe this is called "whistling past the graveyard" - or something like that, lol. |
By TIM HIGGINS - REGISTER STAFF WRITER
Not a wire service. Wow.
Evan Bayh, visiting Des Moines today, said he wouldnÂ’t base his decision to officially run for the Democratic presidential nomination on who else enters the race.
The Indiana senator's visit comes on the heels of Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack’s official campaign kick-off last week and talk in the national media that high-profile Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are close to entering the race. “Home-state popularity – obviously important. Is it nice to be a celebrity and a frontrunner? Of course it is but I suspect that a year from now people will be looking for something other than that,” Bayh told reporters in Des Moines.
He spoke to a couple dozen people at a lunch held by the Greater Des Moines Partnership. Nearly as many members of the media, local and national, lined the roomÂ’s perimeter recording each word.
The Iowa caucuses in January 2008 are expected to kick of the nominating cycle and thereÂ’s already noticeable buzz in Des Moines. Vilsack entered the race officially last week. East Coast media outlets are reporting that Clinton, a U.S. senator from New York, is talking with Democrats about a run. And Obama, an Illinois senator, is also thinking about it in a very public way with a visit this weekend to New Hampshire, which will likely hold the first-in-the-nation primary.
Former U.S. Sen. John Edwards is also moving toward a decision – he was in Iowa just last week. Other potential candidates could include U.S. John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic candidate, and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. Bayh said he will make his final decision to run “shortly after the first of the year.”
“I’ve done a lot of the things that are necessary for making a final decision,” he said. “But I want to sit down with my family one final time … and make sure that from our collective standpoint it’s the right thing to do.”| Checking the closet one last time, phoning the money men one last time... |
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