Are you Bayh-partisan?

I have to applaud Senator Evan Bayh on this one. I've been a Bayh supporter since I first heard of him, and that was probably before he gave the 1996 Keynote address.

Bayh, in Iowa for the second time this year, met Thursday with Des Moines Democrats and told them he wants to unite people to solve the nation's problems.

The Indiana senator noted that he's already won in a state that traditionally elects Republicans.

"We are not going to be able to meet our challenges as deeply divided as we currently are. We have to come together as a people, because the pace of change, the challenges that confront us from the rest of the world, don't give us the luxury of being divided as we are now," Bayh told reporters. "It takes leaders who reach out and try to appeal to something other than people's base."

Bayh also said presidential adviser Karl Rove should be fired if it's proven he was connected to leaking the name of a CIA agent to the news media during the buildup to the Iraq war.

"Even if he is not indicted, if it appears that one of the top advisers to the president of the United States was trying to harm someone personally for a different public-policy point of view. That's unacceptable behavior in the White House," Bayh said.

The former Indiana governor has said he will make his official decision on whether to run for president after the 2006 elections. The Iowa caucuses are expected to lead off the presidential nominating process in 2008.

Bayh spent Thursday at small gatherings around Des Moines and plans to meet with activists in Ames today.

He joked about a bumper sticker that could play off his last name, pronounced "buy."

"I kind of like 'Bayh-partisan,'" he told Democrats at a lunch meeting hosted by state Rep. Janet Petersen of Des Moines.

The day's first appearance was a breakfast hosted by former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bonnie Campbell and her husband, Ed, at Blank Municipal Golf Course. It was a who's who of Polk County politics: Supervisor John Mauro; Treasurer Mary Maloney; and Auditor Michael Mauro, who plans to run for Iowa Secretary of State.

Maloney said she wanted to hear Bayh's message but, like many, was quick to say her appearance was no endorsement.

"It's way too early to say. This is 2005," she said. "I am interested in meeting all of them."

Later in the day, Bayh attended a few events with Peterson. He told the groups that America faces a number of challenges because of the ever-changing global economy, and that those issues must be addressed by a united country.

"The truth of the matter is that the American people have much more in common than what divides us," Bayh said. "There is a yearning for...people to remind us that at the end of the day, we really are not red states and blue states but 50 red-white-and-blue states with a common heritage and common destiny."

I like Bayh-partisan too. Evan has something right: at the end of the day, we are all Americans living in red, white, and blue states. I was going to have the quote be the quote of the day but this article is so great. Anyway, the fast went well yesterday and the birthday could have gone better aside from religious reasons.