Dan Coats now official candidate for Bayh\'s senate seat
It’s official. Dan Coats has provided the necessary signatures and filed the necessary paperwork to appear on the primary ballot as a Republican candidate for the open U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Evan Bayh.
Coats announced his intent to run for the office two weeks ago, amid much criticism that he has not lived in Indiana or been a registered voter in the state since he resigned from the senate and moved to Virginia in 1999. Last week, Coats rented a home in Indianapolis in advance of becoming an official candidate.
Having gathered more than 14,000 signatures from Indiana residents who support his candidacy, Coats and his wife Marsha paid a visit to the office of Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita to file his candidacy paperwork a little over an hour ago.
Indiana law requires the gathering of signatures of 500 registered voters from each of the state\'s nine congressional districts to be certified first at the county level before being filed at the statehouse.
