After Sen. Evan Bayh's (D-IN) surprise retirement announcement, Indiana conservatives have a shot at forcing Democrats to nominate a backbench candidate to fill Bayh's seat, The Atlantic Wire's Jake Simpson reports. Democratic Reps. Baron Hill and Brad Ellsworth are being talked about as possible contenders for the seat, but if Tamyra d'Ippolito, a Bloomington restaurant owner who formerly managed an unsuccessful congressional campaign, gets enough signatures, the she will automatically be the Democratic nominee, forcing Ellsworth or Hill to run a write-in campaign and (it would appear) almost certainly ensuring a GOP victory in 2010. Simpson reports that conservative bloggers mobilized to push their followers to deliver the signatures d'Ippolito needs.