What will Evan Bayh do with his $13m war chest?

From Greg Sargent:

With national Dems scrambling to figure out a way forward in the wake of Evan Bayh’s announced retirement, Dem party strategists are quietly beginning to ask a key question:

What will Bayh do with the $13 million in campaign cash he still has on hand? Will he turn all or some of it over to the Dem party committees, to help the eventual Dem candidate in Indiana and blunt the negative impact his retirement will have on the party’s fortunes?

A spokesman for Bayh tells me he’s made no decision what to do with the money. And it’s likely that he will come under pressure to turn that cash over to the party.

Bayh does have the option to do this. According to Judith Ingram, a spokesperson for the Federal Election Commission, Bayh can turn over unlimited amounts to the DSCC, the most likely recipient, or even to other national party committees, such as the DNC and the DCCC.

He can only turn over limited amounts to the eventual candidate, but cash given to the DSCC would blunt the damage to Dems. The DSCC would have to come up with less money to spend on the Indiana race and would conceivably have more resources to spend elsewhere.