Running-mate fever hits Indiana

By Times staff writers

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 7, 2000

Florida is not the only state where politicians have gotten worked up about the possibility of having one of their own on the national ballot. The speculation centered on Sen. Bob Graham is mild in comparison to the frenzy in Indiana over the possibility that Vice President Gore would chose Sen. Evan Bayh as his running mate.

According to Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., the Democrats in Indiana seem certain that Bayh will be chosen. Lugar quipped that they are so confident, in fact, that some of Bayh's top aides are "already measuring for draperies" in the vice president's office.

Coalition loses lobbyists

As if we needed further evidence that the Christian Coalition has all but collapsed, the last person in its Capitol Hill lobbying office recently sent a scathing resignation letter to coalition president Pat Robertson.

"(I)t has become painfully obvious . . . that Christian Coalition has lost its way," Jeffrey Taylor wrote last month. "While it is true we still release the occasional notice to the press, churn out direct-mail pieces, and lobby on the key issues of the day, we operate as only a shell of what we used to be."

The coalition once had four lobbyists on Capitol Hill. Now it has none. The exodus in Washington was mirrored at the coalition's Chesapeake, Va., headquarters.

Meanwhile, a direct-mail company is suing the cash-strapped religious right organization for $400,000 in unpaid bills. The coalition's former chief operating officer, Kenneth Hill, filed an affidavit in a Arlington County (Va.,) Circuit Court saying the company has a legitimate claim.

-- Staff writers Bill Adair, Sara Fritz and Mary Jacoby contributed to this report.

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