On Monday, February 15, U.S. Senator Evan Bayh surprised his home state of Indiana by announcing he will not run for re-election this year. The Indiana primaries are on May 4. Indiana requires petitions for primary candidates for a few offices, and requires 4,500 for U.S. Senate candidates. They are due at noon (in the various counties) on Tuesday, February 16.

Senator Bayh had collected his 4,500 signatures, but he won’t be submitting them to the state because of his sudden decision not to run for re-election. It is likely that no other Democrat will have had time to collect the signatures by the deadline, which will leave no Democrats on the U.S. Senate primary ballot. Indiana does not permit write-ins in primaries. If no one is on the primary ballot, the Democratic Party’s state central committee would choose a Senate nominee after the May primary.

There had been one other Democrat who had been circulating petitions, but most observers believe she won’t have 4,500 valid signatures by the deadline. She is Tamyra D’Ippolito. See this story about her. Thanks to Ross Levin for this news. Also thanks to Brad King for some of the details.