Kyle Bell

Former Senator Dan Coats of Indiana has made it official on a South Bend radio station. He will be challenging incumbent Democrat Evan Bayh for Indiana’s junior seat in the Senate. Coats retired in 1998 when Evan Bayh, a popular two term governor, announced that he would be running for the seat. Since leaving the Senate, Coats has moved to Virginia where he has been serving as a lobbyist. Both will undoubtedly play into the Bayh campaign strategy.

Carpetbaggers have won in states like New York, where Hillary Clinton succeeded in 2000, but have also failed in states like Illinois where Alan Keyes was handily defeated by Barack Obama in 2004. Coats brings experience winning statewide office to the table, something his opponents for the Republican nomination don’t have. However, the last time he won an election was in 1992. In politics, that might as well be a century ago.