10 Things You Didn't Know About Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh

1. Born in Shirkieville, Ind., on Dec. 26, 1955, Birch Evans Bayh III is the child of Birch Evans Bayh Jr. and Marvella Hern.

2. Bayh's father, Birch, became a U.S. senator in 1962 and moved the family to Washington, where Evan attended St. Albans, a prestigious middle school and high school and a top choice among powerful Washingtonians. Fellow alumni include former Vice President Al Gore, Special Olympics chairman Timothy Shriver, journalists David Ignatius and Brit Hume, and astronaut Michael Collins.

3. Bayh received his undergraduate degree in business economics, with honors, from Indiana University in 1978, and a law degree from the University of Virginia in 1981. As an undergrad, he was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity.

4. Encouraged by both of his parents, who both grew up on farms, to do physical labor, Bayh returned to Washington after his freshman year and spent the first of three summers in a union job, doing construction on the Metro, Washington's rail system.

5. In 1985, Bayh married Susan Breshears. Mrs. Bayh is a graduate of University of CaliforniaBerkeley and a 1984 USC Law graduate, and was a cheerleader. She held the beauty queen titles of Miss Southern California, Miss Pasadena, and Miss Glendale.

6. In 1988, at age 32, he became the first Democrat elected as Indiana's governor in 20 years, usurping the title of youngest governor from then Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, who was, at the time, the youngest governor since 1938. (At 37, Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Republican from Louisiana, is currently the nation's youngest governor.)

7. In 1995, Evan and Susan became parents with the birth of twins Nick and Beau, making Bayh the first governor of Indiana since 1830 to do so while in office, and the first ever to become the father of twins.

8. In 1998, Bayh won one of the state's U.S. Senate seats. He won re-election in 2004 with 62 percent of the vote. He is known as a centrist who is able to connect with conservative voters. From 2001 to 2005, he was chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council.

9. Bayh tries to exercise daily, and enjoys running, tennis, and basketball. A true Hoosier, he had a basketball hoop installed in the governor's mansion's parking lot while governor of Indiana.

10. A fitness fanatic—he runs 5 miles six or seven days a week and often takes part in Indianapolis's annual half marathon—although Bayh admits to a weakness for barbecue and Dairy Queen.

Sources: The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Ky.); the Associated Press; The New Republic; Dayton Daily News (Ohio); Indianapolis Star; Evan Bayh: A Private Life in the Public Eye; CQ Weekly; Indianapolis Woman; visitshoremagazine.com