Definitions of the problem are not necessarily solutions

Yesterday, Evan Bayh, one of an expected parade of US Senators who will begin to probe the waters for a presidential candidacy commented on ABC, "I have a deep appreciation for how broken this city is, how desperately we need someone who will unite the American people for the common purpose of building this country." He went on to say that with two successful terms as Governor that he knew how to fix things.

I am not sure I can comment fairly about Mr. Bayh. He comes from a political family (Birch Bayh, his father, ran for the presidency twice, was the author of the 25 and 26th amendments and was a strong supporter of the equal rights amendment before he was defeated by Dan Quayle in 1980). While the father was a consistent liberal, the son is a bit harder to classify. His term as Governor was marked without a tax increase and with a couple of other interesting initiatives. He voted against a couple of the key appointments of the Bush administration but was also a leader in the Democratic Leadership Council.

What I can say is that the 2008 election is it is going to be unique for a couple of reasons. First, not since 1952 has there been an election where one of the candidates will not be someone who is there (unless of course Cheney runs - which he will not). Second, I believe that the American people are tired of two things - political dynasties (I think no Bush nor Clinton is likely to be elected) and all the squabbling in Washington. If we learned on thing from 2006, the work of Washington is not held in high esteem. If you are interested in getting a good line on him you can find it at Wikipedia - in that post there are links to a number of his speeches. Bayh along with the unknown governor who announced anonymously (and is likely to stay that way) will be the first of several to announce exploratory efforts.

I am not sure whether an elected official in Washington, even one with a good record in his home state, can be successful - a lot depends on whether he can convince the voters that he has only temporarily been in DC. The ultimate credible candidate in either party needs to be able to demonstrate a willingness to bring the country out of the mire of bickering. At this point, with the exception of the comment about the dynasties, this race looks pretty open. What I am not sure is whether the country is ready for either another outsider governor with no significant Washington experience (Carter or Bush) or a Washington insider-outsider(the list here is too long to present).