In case you didn’t know it, Sen. Evan Bayh is leaving. He’s had enough of Congress:
“I love helping our citizens make the most of their lives, but I do not love Congress,” Bayh said at a news conference in Indianapolis, making little effort to hide his frustration at the slow pace in the Senate.
Yeah, well welcome to our world. 
Left with a vacuum in Indiana, the nutroots have a solution. Stop by the little pink houses and pick up John Cougar Mellencamp.
Mellencamp, a who established his political creds long ago with performances for “Farm Aid” and manyother political events could conceivably gather the necessary 4,500 signatures in the remaining 24 hours, if he were allowed to use the internet (500 from each Indiana Congressional District could come just from his Indiana fan base.)
Interesting. Apparently, a sitting governor has too little experience to be Vice President, but you can establish “political creds” by performing songs from the 80s and 90s at fund raising events. Maybe Palin should start a band… And think of all the 8-s bands playing state fairs across the country. They’re not has beens, they are future senators.
It kind of gives this petition to draft Ted Nugent as senator from Michigan a little credibility.
Over at Talking Points Memo, we get more of the Mellencamp Movement:
Indiana’s a pretty conservative state, but Mellencamp is a familiar figure whose strong populist appeal may speak to disillusioned Republicans as well as to progressive Democrats. And he’s been politically active as an entertainer. In fact, just today his website released a story about his recent White House concert, which makes me wonder if
He might just be the guy to run the kind of “Damn Right I Care About Ordinary Americans” campaign that would be the antidote to “Massachussets Fever” in 2010. Besides, Al Franken could use some outspoken company in the Senate.
I think that’s exactly how you should run this. John Cougar Mellencamp – Indiana’s Al Franken.
By the way, I love Mellencamp’s music. I grew up listening to “Jack and Diane” at the Corral Arcade, trying to figure out how something could “hurt so good.” (I was 11.)
But Senator Mellencamp? That’s a bit far fetched.
However, I think this would be a great campaign song:
