Bayh won't run for president; Edwards plans to announce

WASHINGTON -- Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana announced yesterday that he will not seek the Democratic nomination for president in 2008, while two Democratic Party officials said former vice presidential nominee John Edwards will enter the race later this month.

Edwards, who represented North Carolina in the Senate for six years, plans to make the campaign announcement from the New Orleans neighborhood hit hardest by Hurricane Katrina last year. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they did not want to preempt his announcement.

David Ginsberg, a spokesman for Edwards, would not confirm or deny that the senator plans to run.

Edwards is expected to emphasize ways to unite the country, and such a campaign would mark an evolution from his 2004 campaign stump speech that focused on the "Two Americas" of haves and have-nots.

Edwards also plans to travel from New Orleans through the four early presidential nominating states -- Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, and South Carolina -- as part of an announcement tour over a couple days between Christmas and New Year's Day.

Among Democrats, Senators Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois are drawing the most attention almost two years before the actual vote.

Edwards, however, is considered the leading candidate in Iowa, which holds the nation's leadoff nominating caucus. He was a top fund-raiser in the race for the nomination in 2004 before he became Senator John Kerry's running mate.

Bayh said yesterday he believes the obstacles he was facing were too great to overcome.

"I concluded that due to circumstances beyond our control the odds were longer than I felt I could responsibly pursue," Bayh said. "This path -- and these long odds -- would have required me to be essentially absent from the Senate for the next year instead of working to help the people of my state and the nation."

The announcement comes just two weeks after Bayh, in an appearance on a Sunday talk show, said he would take a first step toward a presidential campaign by forming an exploratory committee.

Just last weekend, Bayh traveled to New Hampshire, the first presidential primary state, but his appearance drew little notice as Obama delivered two speeches to sold-out crowds and attracted hordes of reporters. Bayh joins former Virginia Governor Mark Warner as well-known Democrats who already have decide against a 2008 run.

"The odds were always going to be very long for a relatively unknown candidate like myself, a little bit like David and Goliath," Bayh said in a statement. He added that beyond the question of "whether there were too many Goliaths or whether I'm just not the right David," his chances were slim.

Bayh, 50, left open the possibility of a run at some point, saying, "There may be no campaign in the near future, but there is much work to be done."

Bayh is a Democrat with a record of political success in a Republican-leaning state. He had been pointing toward a White House campaign for months, and had $10.5 million in his Senate campaign bank account as of Sept. 30. That money could have shifted to his exploratory committee.

Among the announced Democratic candidates are Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack and Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich.

In addition to Clinton, Obama, Edwards, and Kerry, other possible contenders are Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico, Senator Joe Biden of Delaware, and Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut.

The Republican field also is crowded. Senator John McCain of Arizona, former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani, and Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney are some of the likely aspirants.

Bayh is the son of Birch Bayh, who won three terms in the Senate from Indiana before losing his seat to Dan Quayle in the Republican landslide of 1980.

Since the Democrats' loss to President Bush, Edwards has worked to build support for a repeat presidential bid. He has a retooled agenda that is more openly progressive and has spent time building relationships with labor leaders and traveling overseas to build his foreign policy credentials beyond his one term in the Senate.

Bayh and Edwards, friends who went running together daily when they were in the Senate, each won election in Republican-leaning states.

Bayh and some other hopefuls have struggled to build their name recognition against the drawing power of Clinton and Obama.