Bayh's hometown excited about VP prospects

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By Beth Boehne

Story Created: Aug 7, 2008 at 1:47 PM EST

Story Updated: Aug 7, 2008 at 1:47 PM EST

SHIRKIEVILLE, Ind. (AP) — Speculation that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is considering Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh as a potential running mate has people excited in Bayh's boyhood hometown.

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RAW VIDEO: Sen. Evan Bayh's introduction

Many in the small Vigo County community know Bayh and his family and hope that the former two-term governor will be picked for the national ticket.

"Everybody's pretty sure that he's going to get it," said Carolyn Powers, co-owner of the Midway Bar and Grill in the heart of Shirkieville. "It would put the Midway on the map, wouldn't it?"

Bayh's parents had a farm about 10 miles north of Terre Haute when he was born in 1955. The family sold that home a couple years later when Bayh's father, Birch Bayh, entered law school at Indiana University in Bloomington.

Bayh mostly grew up in Washington after his father was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1962.

Sue Secondino, 70, and her husband, Pete, bought the former Bayh family home from Birch and Marvella Bayh in 1957 and have kept in touch with the Bayhs ever since.

"His (family) background to us is just impeccable," Secondino said of Bayh. "We are wholeheartedly for Evan and any endeavors that he might pursue."

Bayh has appeared with Obama at two recent Indiana campaign stops — Wednesday at a high school in Elkhart and July 16 at Purdue University in West Lafayette — but both he and Obama have brushed aside questions Bayh's running mate prospects.

Bayh was an active supporter of Hillary Rodham Clinton as she ran against Obama for the Democratic nomination and sits on the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence committees. Furthermore, Democrats view Indiana — which has not voted for a Democrat for president since 1964 — as competitive this year.

Larry Davison's truck business, Davison Service and Equipment, is one of the few remaining businesses in the town that he says has a population of 50 people or fewer these days.

He said talk about Bayh's future was "huge" around the community and that his presence on the ticket would help Obama and would be great "not just for Shirkieville, but the whole state of Indiana."

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Information from: Tribune-Star, http://www.tribstar.com

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