One of the major complaints about Bayh made in the comments - and even on the front page - is that Bayh was somehow misusing the filibuster or voting against cloture to thwart the progress of Democrats in the Senate.
But is it true that Bayh used the filibuster "at every opportunity to slow down or scuttle Democratic initiatives"? Well, the voting record on cloture votes during the 111th Congress would appear to suggest - no.
In the 111th Congress, I found 38 cloture votes. Out of these 38 votes, Bayh voted in favor of invoking cloture 35 times, only voting against cloture 3 times.
So, what 3 votes did he voted against cloture for (and what other Dems joined him)? Here they are:
H.R. 3288 - Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010
Who else joined him: Feingold, McCaskill (cloture still passed 60 - 34)
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S. 1776 - A bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for the update under the Medicare physician fee schedule for years beginning with 2010 and to sunset the application of the sustainable growth rate formula, and for other purposes.
Who else joined him: Byrd, Dorgan, Feingold, Kohl, McCaskill, Nelson (FL), Tester, Warner, Webb, Wyden (cloture failed 47 - 53)
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H.R. 1105 - Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009
Who else joined him: Feingold, McCaskill (cloture passed 62 - 35)
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Now, I suppose some people will argue that many cloture votes that he might have voted against never took place because Reid knew they would lose. Of course, that is always a possibility, though Reid obviously wasn't afraid to have votes on losing cloture votes in some instances (see S. 1776). And I'd be more than happy for people to post instances (preferably with links to a news story or something) demonstrating circumstances where Bayh was involved in killing a bill by forcing Reid to pull it from the floor by threatening to filibuster it.
But as far as recorded cloture votes in the Senate, which is really the only truly empirical way to gather this information, Bayh is no where near the filibuster fiend that many on this site have made him out to be. What's more is that all 3 cloture votes that Bayh voted against, he was joined by (perhaps now former) progressive champion Russ Feingold (as well as Claire McCaskill). While I don't necessarily have anything to back this up, my suspicion is that his votes were more on principle for balancing the budget or deficit reduction than some sort of anti-democratic defiance.
So while many people here might have a beef with Bayh, at least try to keep it to items that are actually true.