I don’t think it’s hard to figure. For one thing, his talk of disappointment with DC is total bs, as he is a pre-eminent example of a DC DLC insider. He and Lugar both talk till they are blue in the face about bipartisanship, but what they really mean is insidership. Funny how they keep calling Bayh a moderate. Yeah, I guess in the eyes of a political establishment that is itself massively skewed to the right wing, well maybe a right winger like Bayh would seem “moderate”. Even then it’s quite a stretch.

So the whole thing is a ploy. What is the meaning of this ploy? Well, one aspect is certain: he is virtually handing his seat to the GOP by withdrawing so late. I suppose one can call it ironic that he is also pretty much handing the candidacy to, guess what - another INSIDER - in blatant contradiction to his reasons for leaving, since there is virtually no time for a process in which other candidates can come forward.

I don’t believe for a second that Bayh is giving up his political ambitions. No, I think what he’s looking to do is switch parties and run for president. It’s even possible, I would speculate, that the GOP - looking over its shoulder at Palin, who looks poised to swallow the party - has recruited him. But, of course, some decent interval will have to happen, and there will have to be some gradual process of ‘evolution’ in his views, and maybe some issue that he can point to as the final straw, and so he’ll be looking to ‘pull a Lieberman’, but with a bit more grace…