Gov. Bayh Is Democrats’ Keynote Speaker

Indiana’s popular two-term governor, Evan Bayh, will give the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention, party officials said Saturday.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the 40-year-old Bayh was selected by President Clinton because he is viewed as a telegenic example of a new generation of Democratic leaders. Bayh has been considered the front-runner for the high-profile assignment for weeks.

Bayh’s public-approval percentages in the past few years have been in the 70s, and the fiscal conservative credits much of that to a large budget surplus and no new taxes during his administration.

Barred by law from seeking a third gubernatorial term, Bayh is eyeing a 1998 race for the U.S. Senate, where his father, Birch Bayh, served three terms. The elder Bayh, who was only 34 when he entered the Senate, was ousted by Dan Quayle in 1980 as Ronald Reagan swept into the presidency.

As of June 30, Gov. Bayh had raised $1.27 million for his Senate bid, according to his Federal Election Commission report.

Given Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole’s selection of Rep. Susan Molinari of New York to give the GOP convention’s keynote speech, both presidential contenders are giving center stage at their major political events to up-and-coming party members.

The choice of Bayh comes as Clinton, who is vacationing in Wyoming, and his political team are completing plans for the Democratic Party’s Aug. 26-29 convention in Chicago. Aides said an announcement was expected as early as today on Clinton’s travel plans en route to Chicago. He is expected to begin the trip Aug. 25 by train in West Virginia. Early plans have the president arriving in Chicago by boat after traveling through key Midwestern states.

Plans for a bus trip after the convention--echoing the tour the Clintons and Gores took together after the 1992 convention in New York--have faded, aides said.