Although Congressman Mike Pence (R-IN) won’t be challenging Democrat Sen. Evan Bayh in 2010, the GOP has found an opponent for the incumbent who should be able to give him a run for his money (which for Bayh amounts to a formidable war chest of nearly $13 million).  Brian Howey’s Politics Indiana website reports that former U.S. Sen. Dan Coats will announce Wednesday that he will challenge Bayh. In a statement, Coats told Howey why he’s jumping back into elective politics:

“I have become increasingly alarmed and frustrated about the direction of our country and the failure by leaders in Washington to listen to those they were elected to represent. While Hoosier families have tightened their belts and sacrificed to make ends meet during these tough economic times, our elected officials in Washington continue to run up massive deficits, recklessly borrowing and spending record amounts of taxpayer money with no regard for the future generations of Americans who will inherit this staggering and ever-increasing debt.”

Pence immediately pledged his support to Coats:

“I am very excited about the possibility that former Senator Dan Coats may run for the United States Senate in 2010 and I sincerely hope he does it. His integrity and conservative record would make him the ideal candidate for Hoosiers. If he runs, I will support him.”

Coats represented Indiana’s 4th congressional district in the U.S. House from 1981 to 1989. He was appointed to fill the seat in the U.S. Senate which was vacated by Dan Quayle’s election to the vice president’s office in 1988 and won a special election in 1990 to serve the remainder of Quayle’s unexpired term. Coats was reelected in 1992 and did not seek re-election in 1998. President George W. Bush named him the U.S. Ambassador to Germany in 2001, and he served in that diplomatic post until 2005.

By Indiana law, Coats has has about two weeks to gather the 4,500 signatures required to put his name on the ballot for the Senate race.

- JP

4 Responses to “Coats will come out of retirement to challenge Bayh”