Presumably he was deterred by the reality that serving as governor of Indiana would actually require him to live in the state.
[youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTeU7oYTYpU"]
After Bayh decided to bail on Hoosier families in 2010 in order to cash in on his political career, his former chief of staff revealed that Bayh never really cared for the job he was elected to do:
- Former Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson, who was Bayh’s chief of staff at the statehouse, said his old boss was always a governor at heart. ‘So I suspected, and perhaps in his heart of hearts he suspected, that he might not find the Senate quite the same as being a governor,’ Peterson said. ‘Those frustrations have increasingly worn on him, and I think his willingness to tolerate the frustrations has decreased over time.’” (Glenn Thrush and Jonathan Martin, “Senate In Bayh’s Genes, Not His Blood,” Politico, 2/15/10)
If there was ever a sign that Evan Bayh is only out for himself, the fact that he considered running for governor just days after announcing his Senate campaign is proof positive that Bayh is the most self-serving of politicians.