Sen. Evan Bayh Makes AIDS Joke

Bilerico reports that the Indiana Stonewall Democrats walked out of a fundraiser dinner after Sen. Even Bayh made the below AIDS joke.

So I'm walking through the airport and people were kinda being nice and making eye contact and a couple come up and say hello. This one person runs up all excited and I'm prepared to say "Hello," and he says, "Senator Bayh! Senator Bayh!"

I said "Well, yes?" and he looked at me and said, "Do you have AIDS?"

[audible gasps]

I said, "Huh?"

He said, "Yeah. Do you have AIDS?"

I was dumbfounded. I didn't know what to say.

He said, "I've got a letter I want to give you, do you have someone I can hand this to? Do you have an aide with you?"

[laughter]

So you never know what people are going to say.

[more laughter]

Sen. Evan Bayh To Retire

Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) says he will not seek reelection this fall as the list of Democrats bowing out in 2010 continues to grow.

"After all these years, my passion for service to my fellow citizens is undiminished, but my desire to do so by serving in Congress has waned," Bayh will say. Bayh will announce the decision at a press conference later today. He was first elected to the Senate in 1998 and was re-elected easily in 2004. National Republicans had recruited former Sen. Dan Coats to challenge Bayh in 2010 although polling suggested Bayh began the race with a 20-point edge. He also had $13 million in the bank at the end of the year.

With Bayh's withdrawal, pundits are already calling his Senate seat an "easy pickup" for the Republicans.

Anti-Bayh Movement Grows

The number of progressives demanding that Barack Obama not choose Evan Bayh as running mate is growing, as many point out that Bayh was instrumental in building the Democratic consensus to support the war in Iraq.

Increasing speculation about the vice-presidential prospects of Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana is stirring strong interest among backers of Senator Barack Obama and not all of it is positive. Some prominent liberal bloggers have gotten behind an online push that amounts to a reverse draft of Mr. Bayh, a moderate Democrat who campaigned with Senator Barack Obama in Indiana last week and is widely viewed as a serious contender for the No. 2 slot on the Democratic ticket. An effort called “100,000 Strong Against Evan Bayh for V.P.” has been launched on Facebook, with its promoters encouraging people to weigh in against Mr. Bayh due to his initial strong support for granting President Bush the authority to take military action against Iraq.

From the "100,000 Strong Against Evan Bayh" Facebook page:

Obama's judgment about the war was the central tenet of one of the two best arguments for his earning the Democratic nomination. His offering a break from Old Washington was the other. Choosing Evan Bayh, a career legacy politician who fell hook, line, and sinker for the administration's case for a disastrous war and dragged much of our party with him, would undermine both.

The Obama campaign will be deciding its VP in the next day or two - they may have already, but if they haven't, they are listening for feedback from people like us. This is a moment where we could really make a difference. Let's grow this group to 100,000 in a day and send a clear message to the Obama campaign that Evan Bayh is not the right choice for Vice President.

So far the Facebook page has less than 3000 members.