Rep. Baron Hill (D-IN) (photo: Adam P Schweigert/WFIU )
Representative Baron Hill (D-IN9) may have been gathering signatures in advance of today’s Democratic Senate primary filing deadline, so reports Joh Padget on The Seminal:
[I]t is possible that IN-9th District Congressman Baron Hill or another member of the Indiana Congressional delegation may have been quietly collecting the required 4500 signatures to get on the ballot for U.S. Senate for several weeks throughout all nine Congressional Districts.
Padgett and others have reported that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has made trips to Indiana in recent months, and, as is documented by Padgett, was seen meeting with Rep. Hill.
Also rumored to be under consideration, another conservative Democrat in the Indiana delegation, Brad Ellsworth. Should no one file the necessary signatures by today’s deadline, it would be up to the Indiana Democratic Party to pick a candidate to run in the general election.
Incumbent Democratic Senator Evan Bayh announced Monday that he would not be seeking reelection this year. Senator Bayh was presumed to have an easy path to his third term; established members of the Indiana delegation would not likely have planned to challenge him for the nomination. If Hill has been gathering signatures, it would suggest some prior knowledge of Bayh’s intentions.
