Harry Reid is retiring from the Senate this year, and his heir apparent Chuck Schumer has apparently been floating out the idea that Evan Bayh should be able to retain his seniority, from his first two terms, even though he has been out of the Senate for the past 6 years.

This would be unprecedented, and liberal heads exploded over this possibility:

A collection of left-leaning groups are mounting a public campaign to push Senate Democrats to make the Banking Committee less friendly to banks.

In a letter sent to Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) Thursday, the group specifically urged him to rule out the possibility that Evan Bayh, a former Democrat from Indiana running to regain his old Senate seat, could somehow take control of the panel.
The theory that Bayh, who previously served in the Senate from 1999 to 2011 before not seeking reelection, could leapfrog to the top of the committee has been floating in financial circles for weeks. The thinking goes that Bayh could regain his old seniority from his previous term, placing him ahead of Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), currently the top Democrat on the GOP-led panel.

If Democrats regain control of the Senate, the seat currently occupied by Brown would become the chairman’s and would dictate the panel’s agenda. And Schumer, who also sits on the committee, is expected to take over as Senate Majority Leader following the retirement of Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

Brown has established a reputation as a strong big bank critic, while Bayh, who took jobs with private equity firm Apollo Global Management and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce after leaving office, is viewed as friendly face for the industry.

………

“Granting Bayh seniority from his previous tenure in the Senate and installing him as chair would seemingly be without precedent,” the groups wrote. “The financial industry is floating his name to the media in a brazen, cynical attempt to tilt the Committee’s membership even further toward Wall Street.”

This story would not have been floating around Washington if Schumer weren’t busy floating trial balloons.

Schumer, much like Bayh, is the finance industry’s bitch.

Indiana is one Senate race where I would not be too unhappy if the ‘Phant won.