Bayh stirs echoes of ’88

Will the 2012 gubernatorial campaign look a lot like 1988? The chairman of the Marion County Democratic Party says it will quite likely include the same Democratic nominee, Evan Bayh.

Ed Treacy told the Indianapolis Business Journal that Bayh’s appearance at the annual Indiana Democratic Editorial Association event in French Lick last month was a clue to the senator’s intentions.

“That speaks volumes for him about his priorities,” Treacy said, noting that Bayh hasn’t attended the party event in years.

Another clue might have come much earlier. When Bayh announced in February that he would not seek re-election to the Senate seat he won in 1998, his prepared statement emphasized his accomplishments as governor – working “with an outstanding team to balance the budget, cut taxes, leave the largest surplus in state history, create the most new jobs during any eight-year period, increase funding for schools every year, make college more affordable, and reform welfare to emphasize work.”

Unproductive advertising

Aggressive political campaigns can actually serve to help voters, and neither Dan Coats nor Brad Ellsworth is doing a disservice to voters by challenging the other’s record. But Ellsworth did himself no favors when he called Coats “unpatriotic” for some of the former senator’s lobbying efforts.

“Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel,” wrote Samuel Johnson, the author of an 18th century dictionary. Another writer and linguist, Bob Dylan, rephrased it about 250 years later as “they say that patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings.”

Now Ellsworth is no more a scoundrel than Coats is unpatriotic. Each obviously cares much for his nation – they have both served in the U.S. House, they are both running for senator. Each has taken positions on controversial issues, stances destined to anger many constituents. And Coats’ former employer’s role in fighting a “Buy American” provision of a bill while lobbying for a Russian steel firm is certainly fair game in a political campaign.

But challenging another person’s love of country is a fruitless, personal attack that serves no one.