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By BRIAN A. HOWEY
INDIANAPOLIS - We conducted this telephone interview with U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh late Tuesday afternoon from Denver at the Democratic National Convention.
HPI: Did you get the text message from the Obama campaign at 3 a.m?
Bayh: I’m happy to report I was happily asleep at 3 a.m. because Barack and I had spoken Thursday afternoon. I was not awaiting in anticipation. I already knew what his decision was and I support it wholeheartedly.
HPI: How did the phone call with Sen. Obama go? Did you know it was coming or was it a call out of the blue?
Sen. Evan Bayh talks to the press at Concord HS in Elkhart earlier this month after campaigning with Barack Obama. (HPI Photo by Ryan Nees)
Bayh: He couldn’t have been nicer. I knew Barack but I didn’t know him well before I went through the process. But I think we got to know each other well and developed respect and appreciation for each other that is geniune. Brian, he said a lot of things very complimentary; things you would imagine in a call like that. But I think he genuinely believed them. I knew that even though I was in the final three or two, it was a good chance, but it wasn’t a 50/50 chance. So I was prepared for that. And he told me he needed me not only in the campaign but for the country. It will go in a new direction. I told him I would do whatever I could do to accomplish that. If I was the one who could help him the most, fine. If it was somebody else I would be fully supportive of that. He also said, Brian, you made it to the final two or three. You’ve got great strengths and so it was a very good conversation and I think we’re going to have a very good relationship going forward.
HPI: At what point this summer did it become apparent that you were on the short list?
Bayh: I was kind of an evolutionary thing. As Susan points out, I had no expectation of being considered because I was a strong supporter of Hillary Clinton. It starts with public speculation by people who really don’t know what’s going on. And then he was kind enough to call me and said, “Look, we’re going to cast a wide net.” He said he would be honored if I would be willing to go through the process of being considered. “We’re going to cast a wide net and look at a number of people. But there were only a handful that merit serious consideration and I think you’re one of them.” So I said that I would be honored to be considered then. My take on this, Brian, is that to get to the final two or three obviously you’ve got to have some pretty good things that recommend you or you don’t get there. And obviously you can’t have too many negative things otherwise you don’t get there. I hope it reflected well on our state. When you get to that point it just becomes what the particular dynamics of the campaign happen to be. We had two or three really good people and it was a question of who happened to fit their needs at that particular time best. That’s the way it is. Dick Lugar has been in this position and my father has been in this position. They performed great public service for our state. So I’m pretty philosophical about it.
***Please login to view the entire article.*** Tags: Barack Obama, Dick Lugar, Evan Bayh, Joe Biden, John McCain
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