WASHINGTON – Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., will not run for re-election this year, ending a 12-year Senate career and throwing Indiana politics into turmoil.

The news was unexpected and brought an abrupt end to a re-election campaign that was in full swing; Bayh’s first TV commercials were scheduled to be filmed Wednesday and Thursday.

The news dumbfounded Republicans but also gave them a big psychological boost. The GOP thought this was the year Bayh could be unseated.

Bayh blamed excessive partisanship and dysfunction in Congress for his retirement, at age 54, from a career that included a brief run for the Democratic presidential nomination and consideration by two presidential candidates to be their running mate.

He did not say what he will do after his term ends in January 2011, but “I can best contribute to society in another way: creating jobs by helping grow a business, helping guide an institution of higher learning or helping run a worthy charitable endeavor.” He said he has not closed the door on politics, “but it’s not part of my thinking whatsoever right now.”

Although his political confidants said they were shocked by his decision, Bayh said it “has been growing in my mind for some time” and crystallized over the weekend. “It was just a very difficult, personal decision.”

As he discussed his decision at a news conference in Indianapolis, Susan Bayh and their 14-year-old twins, Nick and Beau, stood by his side. The boys never smiled; Susan Bayh constantly rubbed Nick’s arm and back as if to comfort him.

“For some time, I have had a growing conviction that Congress is not operating as it should,” Bayh said.

“There is too much partisanship and not enough progress. Too much narrow ideology and not enough practical problem-solving.

“Even at a time of enormous national challenge, the people’s business is not being done,” Bayh said. “Congress is too polarizing. That is true, and that is a big part of my frustration.”

Tough race loomed

After two terms in the Senate, Bayh was facing what was expected to be his most difficult campaign. Republican Dan Coats, who represented Indiana in Congress in the 1980s and 1990s, recently announced he is returning to Indiana to run for the seat he left in 1998, the year Bayh won the office.

Bayh’s campaign account has nearly $13 million, a formidable amount. But Coats is favored to win the GOP primary and was expected to give Bayh stiff competition, although a recent statewide poll showed Bayh with a 20-point lead over Coats.

But the political climate for Democrats is grim this year, with nonpartisan analysts predicting Democrats to lose seats in the House and Senate. President Obama’s approval ratings have dipped below 50 percent, but Bayh said his decision “should not reflect adversely on our president.”

In a statement issued Monday afternoon by the White House, Obama praised Bayh as someone who has “devoted his career and his life to serving his fellow Hoosiers. During that time, he has fought tirelessly for Indiana’s working families, reaching across the aisle on issues ranging from job creation and economic growth to fiscal responsibility and national security. I look forward to continuing to work with him on these critical challenges throughout the rest of the year.”

Bayh also said the prospect of a tough re-election campaign didn’t factor into his decision.

“My decision was not motivated by political concern,” he said. “Even in the current challenging political environment, I am confident in my prospects for re-election. Five times over the last 24 years, I have been honored by the people of Indiana with electoral success. But running for the sake of winning an election, just to remain in public office, is not good enough. And it has never been what motivated me.”

Shock and surprise

Stu Rothenberg, editor of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report and a respected political analyst, called Bayh’s announcement “a stunning development.”

Bayh’s decision was a bombshell for both Republicans and Democrats. News leaked about four hours before Bayh’s announcement, and reaction from all quarters was eye-popping surprise.

Mike McDaniel, former chairman of the Indiana Republican Party, called it “the most shocking announcement I can remember in Indiana politics. … It changes the whole landscape of the 2010 election.”

Dan Parker, the chairman of the state Democratic Party, said he was “shocked and saddened” when Bayh told him the news over the weekend. Parker was Bayh’s campaign coordinator.

“Literally, I have TV scripts here on my desk,” he said, referring to scripts for Bayh’s first campaign commercials of the season. “We had all the locations where we would film them nailed down. The shooting was Wednesday and Thursday.”

With no obvious candidate to replace Bayh, Democrats are now looking at a possibility that the Indiana Senate seat will move into Republican control, increasing the likelihood that Republicans will win a majority in the Senate this year.

“To lose an incumbent who was a proven vote-getter with $13 million in the bank, Democrats are clearly worse off now than they were yesterday,” Rothenberg said. “The race is extremely fluid until Democrats figure out who they are going to run, but, overall, an open seat in this environment will be difficult to hold.”

Rothenberg, whose publication handicaps congressional races, moved the Indiana Senate race to the “toss-up” category, which means both parties have a roughly equal chance of winning the seat.

Chris Sautter, president of Sautter Communications and a Democratic consultant, said, “Recruiting a quality candidate under these circumstances will be difficult.”

“Evan Bayh has dominated Indiana politics for almost a quarter of a century. He revived the party in 1985-86 at a time when it was at its lowest point following two Reagan landslide elections in Indiana. So the party is going to have to rebuild,” Sautter said. “It is still Evan Bayh’s party, and it will be his people who are in charge of the Senate and other campaigns this year. Hopefully, he will stay engaged throughout the year to make sure Democrats are competitive.”

In a statement, Coats said he respects Bayh’s “commitment to public service” but otherwise did not comment on how Bayh’s decision changes the political dynamics in Indiana. Coats is in a multi-candidate GOP primary that includes former congressman John Hostettler and state Sen. Marlin Stutzman, who said he was shocked and surprised by the news.

“I hope it means a lot of good for my race,” Stutzman said. “It definitely gives us a huge, huge advantage from where we were yesterday.”

Bayh, the son of a former senator, said he “was raised in a family that believes public service is the highest calling in the church, that what matters is not what you take from life, but what you give back.

“I believe that still. … My passion for service to my fellow citizens is undiminished, but my desire to do so by serving in Congress has waned.”

Bayh expressed frustration with politically motivated conduct in Congress.

“Two weeks ago, the Senate voted down a bipartisan commission to deal with one of the greatest threats facing our nation: our exploding deficits and debt. The measure would have passed, but seven members who had endorsed the idea – actually co-sponsoring the legislation – instead voted ‘no’ for short-term political reasons,” he said.

“Just last week, a major piece of legislation to create new jobs – our nation’s top priority today – fell apart amid complaints from both the left and right.

“All of this and much more has led me to believe that there are better ways to serve my fellow citizens, my beloved state, and our nation than continued service in Congress.”

He said if more people in Congress could work as cooperatively as he and Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., “the institution would be a better place.”

In a statement issued after Bayh’s announcement, Lugar said it “has been a personal privilege to serve Indiana with a distinguished father and son, Birch and Evan Bayh. The last 33 years of political life in our country have often been times of excessive partisanship. I am grateful that Birch and Evan Bayh were always ready to work with me in making certain that Hoosier wisdom and commonsense had strong united voices in every debate.”

Bayh, a former two-term governor and Indiana secretary of state, has never lost an election.

He is the fifth Democratic senator not seeking re-election. Six Republicans are not running again.

Niki Kelly of The Journal Gazette contributed to this story.

sylviasmith@jg.net