With the Democratic convention over and Evan Bayh not selected to run for vice president, we’ll know soon how seriously the party’s national leaders and moneybags feel about Jill Long Thompson’s chances of being elected governor.

  Long Thompson would have benefited in two ways if Barack Obama had chosen Bayh.  The obvious one is that it would have meant many more votes for the Democratic Presidential ticket in Indiana, which would help her and other down-ballot candidates.  But the other reason is that it would have made it more important for national Democrats to help her get elected.

  If Bayh were elected vice president, he would have to be replaced in the Senate.  The governor gets to make that choice.  If Mitch Daniels is re-elected that would have been a Republican, dropping the Democrats’ U.S. Senate majority by one.  But if Long Thompson had been elected (and assuming Bayh waited until after her inauguration to resign his Senate seat), she would have chosen another Democrat to replace him.

  Now that’s not a consideration.  Any financial help Long Thompson gets from this point on from national sources will be predicated on just one thing…their belief in her chances of winning.  So her contributions from this point will be very interesting.