Chris Cilizza observes that Sen. Evan Bayh's petulant retreat cost the country another senator whose father also served in the upper chamber. With Chris Dodd's decision to retire, only Lisa Murkoswki, Bob Bennett and Mark Pryor remain as legacy legislators. Given that of the five, only Dodd has distinguished himself as any kind of legislator, we have even more evidence that electoral dynasties are bad news. (Admittedly, the broader ratio of useful to useless senators probably isn't much more than 1 in 5). Also on the Bayh front, nice to see James Fallows write this accurate criticism of the Indiana senator's work over at the Atlantic -- since typically urging legislators to, you know, do something other than moan about partisanship and seek moderation is considered to be the province of shrill lefty bloggers. Asking someone who happily told his critics, as though it were a point in his favor, that he and his pals "literally have no agenda" to do something substantive is considered very inappropriate. I doubt, however, that Bayh's incredible success at reaching the apotheosis of vacuous political posturing will lead those who fetishisize a non-existent centrism to reconsider their positions and look into the possibilities of meaningful policymaking.
-- Tim Fernholz
