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June 26, 2008
Posted: 05:58 AM ET
From CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney
Bayh is a former supporter of Clinton
(CNN) — It was once the entrenched practice of any politician with a remote chance of being asked to serve as a party's vice presidential nominee: Never admit you'd say yes to the job. But in the last two weeks, two Senate Democrats have flatly confessed they'd take the position if asked. On Sunday, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden said candidly, "The answer I’ve got to say is yes," if the No. 2 position is offered. And on Wednesday, Sen. Evan Bayh, a former Hillary Clinton supporter from the potential battleground state of Indiana, also admitted he'd take the job if it is offered. Check out who's on the VP shortlists "I don't think it's the kind of thing you say no to….the answer to that is yes," Bayh said in an interview on MSNBC. "If you care about serving your country, that is the kind of thing that you do," he argued. But the Indiana Democrat, who considered running for president himself last year, wouldn't go so far as to say he is actually interested in being Obama's No. 2. "I love my day job. I'm not looking to change," he said. Bayh, a former governor of Indiana and scion of one of the state’s most powerful political families, has long been considered a potential V.P. choice. The senator serves on the critical Armed Services Committee, is a political moderate, and comes from a state that Democrats haven’t carried in a presidential election since 1964. He also proved to be an effective spokesman for Clinton earlier in the campaign and could be helpful in drawing supporters of the New York senator into Obama’s camp. Though Bayh was particularly critical of Obama after the Illinois senator's now-famous "bitter" comments, and suggested the remark could fatally harm him in a general election. Filed under: Barack Obama Hillary Clinton
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