The second New York Times profile of potential Vice Presidential nominees is on Indiana’s Evan Bayh. Senator Bayh is a former two term governor of red state Indiana, and the son of former Senator Birch Bayh. (I rooted for Birch Bayh when he ran for President back in 1976). Bayh was a supporter of the Congressional resolution authorizing the use of force in Iraq, and is known as a centrist. (He chaired the centrist Democratic Leadership Council for four years.)

Bayh, like all the other potential candidates, has all sorts of praise and criticism coming at him now. On the plus side:

But admirers, some of whom are actively promoting Mr. Bayh as a No. 2, say he could complement Mr. Obama in areas like executive experience and economic expertise, while bolstering the image of a generational change. And his earlier allegiance to Mrs. Clinton could help soothe disgruntled Clinton supporters.

Even Move On is not condemning Bayh:

Eli Pariser, the executive director of the antiwar group MoveOn.org, said that Mr. Obama had a variety of factors to weigh in making a choice and that he was not ready to say that Mr. Bayh should be ruled out because of his views at the start of the war.

“We are not going to get into which particular person is good or bad,” Mr. Pariser said. “We hope that emphasizing Senator Obama’s judgment against the war is something they consider in making their pick.”

And the negatives:

One conventional assessment of Mr. Bayh is that he is a bland, unexciting politician who would not energize a national ticket. His 1996 keynote speech to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago was panned. In a recent column, Dick Morris, a former consultant to President Bill Clinton, described Mr. Bayh as a “cream puff” for failing to go on the attack in that speech, a decision Mr. Bayh later described in a book, saying his view was that voters were tired of negative politics.

And not everyone thinks his early support for the Iraqi invasion is acceptable.

“He was not only wrong, he was aggressively wrong,” said Tom Andrews, national director of the Win Without War coalition, referring to Mr. Bayh. “In my view, he would contradict if not undermine the Obama message of change, turning a new page on foreign policy and national security.”

Bayh brings some strengths to the ticket, but would likely be not well received by the left. Could Bayh deliver his home state for Obama? I think Bayh has to be under real consideration here, and has likely gone by my early pick of Virginia Governor Tim Kaine. You still have time to enter our VEEP Sweeps.

Read the New York Times story here.