Evan Bayh
Birch Evans "Evan" Bayh III (born December 26, 1955) is a U.S. Senator from Indiana and a member of the Democratic Party. Some experts and pundits initially considered Bayh to be a possible running mate for presidential candidate John Kerry in the 2004 election due to his native Indiana being a key state in the important Midwest (although not a swing state unless Bayh were nominated). His father, Indiana senator Birch E. Bayh II, ran for the Democratic nomination for president in 1976, but lost it to Jimmy Carter.
Bayh was born in Shirkieville, Indiana. He graduated with honors in business economics from Indiana University in 1978 where he was a member of Phi Kappa Psi, and received his law degree from the University of Virginia in 1981. After clerking for a federal court judge and entering private law practice in Indianapolis he was elected Indiana's Secretary of State in 1986. He served two terms as the governor of Indiana, from 1989 to 1997.
Bayh was elected to the US Senate in 1998. Bayh serves on six Senate committees: Banking Housing and Urban Affairs, on which he is the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on International Trade and Finance; Armed Services; the Select Committee on Intelligence; Energy and Natural Resources; the Special Committee on Aging; and the Small Business Committee.
He serves as Chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) and is a member of the Senate Centrist Coalition. He helped establish the New Democrat Coalition. Bayh also serves on the Board of Directors of the National Endowment for Democracy.
He and his wife Susan have twin sons, born in 1995.
