Obama hit hard as Bayh bows out

US President Barack Obama suffered another setback Monday as a fifth Democratic senator, centrist heavyweight Evan Bayh, decided not to run for re-election in dismay at the bitter political climate.

Obama, who reportedly tried to talk Bayh out of retiring, faces a looming Republican resurgence and risks watching strong majorities in Congress crumble in November mid-term elections, and with them his ambitious reform agenda.

Democrats expressed shock at the development, seeing it both as the loss of a key consensus builder in the Senate and of a candidate strongly favored to win re-election in Republican-leaning Indiana.

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