The conventional wisdom is that Senator Evan Bayh surprised everyone by not running for re-election. Perhaps those who know him best do not completely share the surprise.

We assume that most people we elect to office want to stay or run for still higher offices. Members of both houses of Congress are certainly in that group. Many run for office until they drop or seek the presidency. Even members of state legislatures hang in there election after election until they get beat, run for Congress or grow old: in some cases, very old.

It turns out that Sen. Bayh doesn’t fit the stereotype. If you take his statement at face value, he is tired of the partisanship that has become Congress. He feels he cannot get anything done. And for all his pedigree as a public office holder – two term governor and winning back the U.S. Senate seat his father lost in an upset in 1980 – Senator Bayh simply wants to do something else.

He probably would have faced his most difficult re-election fight this year. His opponent would likely have all the money he needs: enough to overcome a large gap in name identification. Natioanlly, Democrats may lose big time in Senate and House races this year. But Sen. Bayh would probably have successfully swum against the current: the latest poll shows him with a 20 percent lead over his most well-known and well-financed likely opponent.

For now, we have to take the senator at this word: at 54 and in apparently in good health, with two teen-age boys, without needing to work but wanting to, and with options that will become available to him, Sen. Bayh is tired of banging his head against a wall. He feels it’s time to move on.

As the hype machine grinds out Super Bowl headlines like so much sausage, it’s become clear that the Indianapolis Colts are the bad guys and the New Orleans Saints are the good guys.

This is a first. The Colts have worn white hats, literally and figuratively, in recent years largely due to their midwestern locale and the popularity of Peyton Manning. The quarterback’s comeback wins on the field (7 in the fourth quarter this season) and star turns on commercials make him a national celebrity…and one that people actually like.

There would be no problem – bad guy wise -- if the Minnesota Vikings were the Colts’ opponents in Sunday’s Super Bowl. The Colts would have been the good guys and public opinion would have been mixed on the Vikings and Brett Favre.

So only regular Colts fans will be rooting for our team this Sunday.

I understand: the Colts won the Super Bowl in 2007; the Saints are a wonderful story. They are in their first Super Bowl, they are a rebuilt team representing a rebuilt city. Their quarterback, Drew Brees, is enjoying the kind of second chance afforded the city. Cast away after being injured playing for the San Diego Chargers, he began his comeback with the Saints less than a year after New Orleans started rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina. As Robin Roberts said on Good Morning America today, “a wounded player in a wounded city.”

There are crossed paths between the two most prominent players. Brees is a Texan who quarterbacked Purdue in college. Manning grew up in New Orleans, played college ball at Tennessee and reached national stature with the Colts. There are fans around here that root for the Colts and want Brees to do well. Some in New Orleans would root for Manning against any team other than their Saints.

It will be a good game. I have visited New Orleans on two brief occasions. It’s a unique city – full of history, charm, music…and a voodoo museum. I was in southern Mississippi a few weeks after Katrina. The area was blasted hard. I understand the metaphor for a recovering region and a recovering team. I want the Saints to do well. And I want the Colts to win Super Bowl XLIV.

Social media is scooping the major news outlets after the earthquake in Haiti.

Because there are few major news bureaus in Haiti, mainstream TV and print outlets were slow getting people and pictures on the ground. For hours, and likely continuing throughout the recovery, social media kept the world informed. You Tube, Facebook and Twitter provided most of the first images, and the heartbreaking details of the horror: crumbled buildings, broken bodies and screams for help.

Here are examples, collected by Mallory Simon of CNN:

"Phones are working somewhat in Haiti. Can't get a hold of my family though." -- From Twitter user zabelbok in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, at 8:12 a.m.

"Church groups are singing throughout the city all through the night in prayer. It is a beautiful sound in the middle of a horrible tragedy." -- From Twitter user troylivesay in Port-au-Prince at 03:09 a.m.

"The Haitian people are strong and resilient beyond measure. This city and her people already looked resolved to get up, dust off, and move on." -- troylivesay at 3:08 a.m.

"Felt that, loud and clear. We're in Cap Haitien. House (really the whole world) shook for about 30 seconds" -- From Twitter user firesideint (Luke Renner) at 5:20 p..m. ET.

"Just experienced a MAJOR earthquake here in Port au Prince - walls were falling down. - we are ALL fine - pray for those in the slums" -- From Twitter user troylivesay in Port-au-Prince, Haiti at 5:24 p.m. ET

"Phones and internet are mostly out - we don't have either at home - radio says the Palace fell down and buildings fell down all along Delmas" -- From Twitter user troylivesay in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, at 7:28 p.m. ET

"I can't imagine the devastation this has caused to such an overly stressed city - I think it will be suffering for quite some time" -- From Twitter user troylivesay in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, at 7:31 p.m.

"If anyone in Haiti is reading this, please go out and help in the streets, it's very ug;y out there if you haven't seen it Haiti" --From Twitter user fredodupoux in Haiti at 8:04 p.m. ET

"In our area mostly exterior walls fallen - people afraid to re-enter their homes..." -- From Twitter user troylivesay in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, at 8:20 p.m. ET

"Tipap [Troy's assistant] made it home from Carrefour - saw many dead bodies and injured along the way - said most buildings w/more than one story are down" -- From Twitter user troylivesay in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, at 8:22 p.m. ET

"I'm told things aren't good at [Hotel] Montana.. an 8 story building behind me is rubble" --From Twitter user RAMhaiti in Haiti at 10:20 p.m. ET

"People are gathering in open places and praying. Many have injuries but do not seek medical treatment because they cannot count on that so they wait till morning. EDH went out as the quake hit and the area is pitch dark.

"The report that was best from an eyewitness in the hardest hit area of Carrfour was by [Troy's assistant] Tipap ... he works with our family and he said that he saw "many many bodies" and that churches, schools, and homes had collapsed. He was in a Tap Tap (truck for public transportation) when it happened.

"[Nanny] Jeronne cannot reach her family, nor can Tipap. We are all truthfully very scared. People are suffering in collapsed buildings and until daylight we don't even know how to report more -- it got dark about an hour after the main one hit. We had not had time to go out at that point.
"I hear helicopters flying over often and hope they are helping the hurt and trapped - but there is not light to work with.
"For my Family and Friends - I love you. I love you. I love you. I know you are praying. I feel it. Please do not stop."

Here’s a link to You Tube, look especially at video without commentary in which you can hear the sounds of people and emergency workers: www.youtube.com

None of these reports were verified or edited, but you can’t expect that. You have to hear, see and feel for yourselves. And money for assistance should be donated to established agencies such as the Red Cross.

But social media serves this purpose: we hear from people in the dead center of events whose lives, in some cases, are in immediate danger. These are cries for help in real time. We are fascinated and horrified by their perspectives. They are there. We appreciate were we are.

Look again at the last Twitter message above: “I know you are praying. I feel it. Please do not stop.”

At least 15 years ago, a house in our neighborhood displayed a lighted Christmas tree in its front window well into spring. The family that lived there had not kept a tree in their window so long before and hasn’t since. I don’t know the family, but I imagined at the time that they must have a significant reason for displaying the tree, and turning on the lights in the evening, into mid-April.

There are many reasons for hanging on to such a visible sign of the Christmas season. Perhaps a loved one could not make it home for Christmas from a far-off military assignment. Or maybe someone close to them was in a hospital and the family hoped for a joyous Christmas celebration upon his or her return. If either was the case, I hope their family member returned home safe and well.

The song, “I’ll be Home for Christmas” was written for those who wish to return home (literally or to an imagined place) for the holiday. World War II separated many Americans from their family members when the song was published in 1943. One of the authors, Buck Ram (co-authors were Kim Gannon and Walter Kent), later said he wrote an early version of the song as a homesick college student.

The song’s lyrics begin with the affirmation, “I’ll be home for Christmas; you can plan on me.” It asks the listener to hang mistletoe and place presents under the tree, with the promise that the singer will be “where the love light shines” on Christmas Eve. The melancholy signature line follows, “I’ll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams.”

Of course, it’s possible that our neighbor family simply enjoyed Christmas that year and didn’t get around to removing the tree until the daffodils were in full glory.

This year – Christmas 2009 – I hope you get to spend at least part of this holiday season with those closest to you and that your Christmas dreams come true, now and in 2010.

The success of Wishard Hospital’s bonding referendum this week is a case study of how to win an election by not telling everyone about it. Citizens for Wishard didn’t keep the election secret: that would be impossible and illegal. But they didn’t try to organize massive support, either.

The hospital’s supporters marshaled a clear argument in favor of selling $754 million in bonds to finance a new complex to replace the outmoded, century-old public hospital on the near Westside. Health and Hospital Corporation Chief Matt Guttwein talked to civic groups and quietly earned endorsements from officeholders, the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce and the Indianapolis Star. His simple argument: Indianapolis needs an up-to-date public hospital and it could be built without a tax increase.

A couple of supportive direct mail pieces arrived at our house. There was a useful website and messages on social media. No TV, no radio, no print ads.

News coverage was even-handed in the Star but scant elsewhere.

On Election Day, 83 percent of voters said “yes” to Wishard’s plans. Fewer than 45, 000 people voted in Marion County, about 15 percent of the 374,000 who cast ballots in last November’s election for president. But, as Peyton Manning would say, “a win is a win.”

Only the most committed voters turn out for referenda. A large turnout in this election would probably have meant that Wishard’s opponents – those who fear that higher taxes will eventually be needed to pay off the bonds – would have energized enough people to actually come out and vote. The torch-bearing mobs in the old Frankenstein movies didn’t march up to the castle because they were happy. But they were fearful in a way Wishard’s opponents couldn’t duplicate.

Wishard’s opponents couldn’t beat down the hospital’s claims that it would pay for the bonds with revenue, not taxes. And they found it difficult to argue against a public hospital that serves many low-income and poor people.

Ordinarily, this would be the one year in four in which no elections are held in Indiana, except for special elections or referenda. Voting “yes” or “no” on a bond issue just wasn’t compelling enough to drive many people to the polls.

Wishard supporters were not being dishonest in talking to just the exact people they needed to show up at the polls. They employed the strategy of most successful politicians: speak to your base and be sure they vote.

Guy Johnson

The other day, a reporter from one of Indiana’s mid-sized daily newspapers called. He had a press release in hand that we issued a couple of hours before. It announced that a manufacturer in a neighboring city was letting go more than 70 people, keeping only a small staff for other work.

The reporter asked me if he should drive the 20 miles or so to the company to talk with someone or if he could get all the information he needed from the news release. I told him that all the basic information was in the release, but suggested that he could talk to company executives and workers if he went to the plant.

Then the reporter told me that he expected a major employer in his own town would make an important announcement that afternoon. He didn’t want to miss it, and no one else on the paper’s staff was available to handle either story.

I suggested he make his own decision, but more of his readers would be affected by the local company’s news.

The reporter did not make the drive. He based his story on our press release and was able to cover the local story when it broke.

As a public relations practitioner, I am always pleased when my press release stands on its own as a news story. But, let’s me honest, the most comprehensive news releases contain only one side of a story: the client’s point of view.

Most PR people that I know believe in their clients’ products and causes. We can write and speak with sincere conviction about our clients’ issue; although we know and appreciate that someone else may have a compelling counter argument.

Of course I want reporters to use our press releases, either verbatim or as the sole source for a story. But it will be bad for journalism if newsrooms at newspapers and TV and radio stations become so short staffed the reporters must rely on press releases and fail to pick up the phone and find other credible sources.

PR practitioners are often excellent sources for journalists. We locate and summarize research, locate experts to talk about a subject, and relay the information to the reporter in time to beat their deadline.

PR pros know this and provide accurate, timely information. The best journalists try to contact any source that will give them insight on a story. If only they had the time.

Good writing is brief, accurate and descriptive. Here are a couple of examples of business press writing that obscure their points, though I think one company did it on purpose.

In one, a company says it will: “self perform work with our own forces.” Good to know. I think the company means that it performs most client work itself without using subcontractors. It’s a good selling point, but would be made stronger if the company just said that. By adding “self” as an adverb, the company softens its point.

Now, here’s a company that wanted to make its message more opaque. It reports that it is “down balancing our work force.” Wait a minute! That’s not good news. The company is cutting jobs. We’re sadly accustomed to seeing “down sizing” as a substitute for “eliminating jobs.” But even that’s too clear, and too common, for this company.

The best journalistic writing weaves the precision of a science with the art of storytelling. Writing news releases for business calls for the same skills if a business wants to be understood. If it doesn’t? Well, the people who lost their jobs are not comforted by the news they were “down balanced.”

Now that Sonia Sotomayor has been confirmed for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court, I imagine she is spending August preparing for her big new job. I hope she is relaxing, because there may not be much down time when the Court starts its session unusually early in late September.

As a white male, I wasn’t offended by Judge Sotomayor’s comment about “a wise Latina woman” making better decisions than white male judges. It’s good enough for me that the American Bar Association gave her its highest recommendation, as it did for President George W. Bush’s two nominees, Chief Justice John Roberts and Samuel Alito.

The most important duty of a Supreme Court judge is to read the law and apply it to the situation in front of him or her. Of course, background, gender and the ability to achieve over circumstances will invariably play some role in what a judge, or any person, thinks and feels, and performs their jobs.

If we don’t want to consider background and life achievement for Supreme Court justices, perhaps we should assign a team of computer experts to design a software program to replace the Supreme Court. Arguments would be fed into the computer, which would then chew on the data awhile and then spit out a verdict. There would be no 5-4 votes or dissenting opinions.

A Supreme Court justice must obviously possess sound judgment and scholarship. But if a justice is not allowed to refer to their background, life experience and, even empathy, why not let a computer handle all the hard cases that make it to the Supreme Court?

I’m kidding. Anyway, who would write the program?

The other day I asked the owner of a neighborhood produce stand if he had any apples. “No apples, it’s summer,” he said. He might have had the same tone if I asked if he had been to the moon lately.

He called my attention to a chalk board nailed on the wall behind the counter. Each month of the year has its own column, and the fruits and vegetables that arrive that month are listed below, along with the state in which they are grown and harvested. South Carolina peaches, for example, were available the evening I was there in June. They were delicious and juicy enough to require two napkins.

Apples will be along in September and we will see crisp Indiana apples in late September and October. That seems right.

Apples are a seasonal crop, but we’ve (I’ve) forgotten that because you can pick up apples anytime at most supermarkets. True, they may have spent the last eight months in a refrigerator somewhere, but summer apples are, in fact, an approximation of autumn apples. Not as crisp or juicy and lacking flavor—and perhaps a little mealy – but, hey, they are apples.

Many of us are fortunate enough to eat like kings. Better than kings in the middle ages, whose hearty diet consisted of meat, game and potatoes, with a few carrots thrown in. They never heard of mangoes unless they plundered a tropical country.

The U.S. presidents can have practically any food they want any time they want it. Little effort is spared to stock the tables with food from around the world every time our president hosts a state dinner for a visiting president, prime minister or king.

This wasn’t always the case. Until recent decades, even presidents, were restricted to locally grown food for their major dinners. The menu for President Lincoln’s second inaugural is posted on a wall of the Willard Hotel in Washington. An earlier version of the Willard hosted the dinner on March 6, 1865. Fresh fruit and leafy lettuce were nowhere on the menu. Varieties of beef, veal and game were listed. Potatoes made the dinner because they are able to be stored at room temperature in dark pantries. And Mr. Lincoln and his party enjoyed desserts of cakes and “jellies and creams,” even ice cream with flavors such as vanilla, chocolate and white coffee. I imagine the ice cream was made shortly before dinner.

Most of us don’t remember when refrigeration and transportation were not available to bring nearly any food to our nearest supermarket.

Seasonal markets remain special because their foods haven’t traveled a long way to reach us. And they haven’t lost their taste along the way.

What’s the buzz on your business? I’ll wait a minute. Oh, there isn’t a buzz?

If no one is talking about your business, that’s a problem. But in budget-challenged times like these, activities like PR, marketing and advertising are often the first to be cut.

Don’t neglect the stuff that generates buzz! Buzz does the most good in perilous times. The reason is simply this (you’re probably way ahead of me on this): when your customers – and people who aren’t your customers yet – are ready to spend money on your products or services, they will spend it with companies they know. If they are not reminded that you exist, they will patronize a competitor. I’m just guessing here, but I’ll bet you have competitors.

So what will you tell the public?

Here’s a plan for your company to generate basic public relations at little cost. Sit down and think what is new, different and perhaps even unique about your company. Write it down and offer the story to your trade papers, local newspapers or any other media outlet that reaches your potential customers. If your story is picked up – or causes a reporter to call or visit you and prepare his or her own story – you’ll make news. People will talk. Internet search engines will scatter it around to potentially thousands of people.

Generally, new products, services or investments in equipment make news.

So ask yourself and your associates what is new. Trade magazines and their websites (and readers) want to know if you’ve invested in software or training so that your metal shop can change dies more rapidly, and thus increase output. If your company has developed a solution for an environmental problem, call the local newspaper editor and ask which of their reporters you should invite to come out for a look.

Your opinions, if constructive, can also help build the name ID of your company. Write letters commenting on pertinent issues and e-mail them to the appropriate media outlets.

Buzzing is noise. It should be based on solid information. A potential customer could be looking for you right now, and neither he nor you know about each other. Tell them.

Guy Johnson