Hays Stowe lives?

I've always had a high opinion of former Sen. Birch Bayh, the father of Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) During the elder Bayh's career in the Senate, he was known as a man of genuine integrity- so much so that when producer David Levinson was looking for real-life senators upon which to model Hal Holbrook's idealistic, honest Sen. Hays Stowe for the old TV series The Bold Ones, he was one of a handful of senators upon whom the character was based. Interestingly, in the series Sen. Stowe was himself the son of a senator from an unnamed Midwestern state

While I disagree with him on certain issues, the current Sen. Bayh- who was briefly rumored as President Obama's running mate in 2008, and surely would have been a better choice than Joe Biden- has always struck me as cut from the same cloth. Today he made a very Hays Stowe-like move. In fact, it was the very move Stowe made in the pilot for the series, A Clear and Present Danger (not to be confused with the movie based on the Tom Clancy book).

In the movie, young Stowe- a Justice Department lawyer expected to succeed his father (E.G. Marshall) in the Senate- announces that he won't run after all in order to call attention to a life-threatening ecological catastrophe about to strike a city in the state. An old college professor of his has predicted it, but nobody will believe him. Naturally, the catastrophe occurs on schedule. Stowe's father uses his influence to get the factories whose pollution is responsible closed until weather conditions change and the danger passes (apparently a matter of a few days; the catastrophe occurred because of a unique set of freakish meteorological conditions). Both vindicated and newly impressed with the degree to which power can be used in the cause of good, young Stowe reverses field, runs for his father's seat after all, and wins.

Today the younger Sen. Bayh announced that he would not seek re-election in protest over the ideologically-driven gridlock in Congress. His seat has instantly gone from a likely Democratic hold to a likely GOP pickup (former Sen. Dan Coats is seeking to win it back). But even more significantly, Bayh- already seen in some quarters as presidential timber- has positioned himself as an outsider, an opponent of the petty partisanship which has put Congress in such a bad odor with the American people.

There was a bumper sticker back in the 'Seventies which read, "HAYS STOWE FOR PRESIDENT." Don't be surprised to see bumper stickers boosting Evan Bayh for the same job- one his father sought in 1976, losing the nomination to Jimmy Carter- a few years down the line.