Senator Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) announced last week that he will not seek re-election in November, and the media have been filled with speculations about his possible motives ever since.
Although Bayh officially stated that he was disillusioned with what he termed as a "dysfunctional" political system riddled with "brain-dead partisanship," and added that he had "no idea" what he would be doing next, many observers believe there may have been other reasons behind his decision.
In fact, the term "lobbyist" began appearing in post-announcement commentaries, as The Huffington Post pointed out that based on figures from the progressive watchdog group Public Citizen, a total of 43 percent of Congress members who retired between 1998 and 2004 registered as lobbyists.
One news website, called The Seminal, drew a link between the senator’s announcement and the decision of Billy Tauzin, the former Louisiana congressman who is the head of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the industry’s lobby group, to retire at the end of June.
The news provider stressed that until Tauzin’s announcement, Bayh’s campaign team and Capitol Hill staff apparently believed he was still on course to run for re-election.
Whatever he ends up doing next, Bayh—who prior to becoming senator in 1999, served as the 46th governor of Indiana from 1989 to 1997—has reportedly ruled out running for the White House in 2012.
