WASHINGTON -- Democratic jockeying for the White House in 2008 intensified Sunday with Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh taking the first official step toward a run and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton gauging support among fellow New York lawmakers.\nBayh said he would set up an exploratory committee to raise money and help assess his prospects. He plans to decide over the upcoming holidays whether to seek the Democratic nomination and announce his decision early next year.\n"I'm distressed about the direction we're going in. We are a great nation with great opportunity. But we're not fulfilling our potential today," said Bayh, who planned appearances Monday in Iowa and next weekend in New Hampshire, two states early on the campaign calendar.\n"We need someone who can deal with the dysfunction here in this city so that our government begins to empower our people to fulfill their potential. That's not happening. Someone who can unite Americans in a politics of common purpose," Bayh said. "If I can be that individual, so be it. That's what I'll be considering over the next several weeks."\nHe described setting up the committee this week as "the next practical step." Asked if that meant he wants to run -- and win -- the senator replied: "It means that, yes. But it also allows you to assess some of the practical things to determine whether that's a sensible course of action."\nBayh has pointed toward a run for the White House for months and had $10.5 million in his Senate campaign bank account as of Sept. 30. The money can be transferred to his exploratory committee for president.\nThe 50-year-old senator has charted a centrist's course throughout his political career, including two terms as governor and eight years in the Senate.\nClinton, who easily won re-election to a second term Nov. 7, "is reaching out to her colleagues in the New York delegation and asking for their advice and counsel and their support if she decides to make a run," a top adviser, Howard Wolfson, told The Associated Press.\nWolfson made it clear Sunday, though, that the planning is moving ahead.
He noted that Clinton had said she would begin actively considering a run after the election. "That process has begun," Wolfson said. He said he did not know when she might make a decision or set up an exploratory committee.\nIowa Gov. Tom Vilsack already is in the race and Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois is among numerous other potential rivals who are expected to decide within a few weeks whether to run.\nNational polls have shown Clinton as the front-runner for the 2008 Democratic nomination.\nHe said top Clinton aides have begun interviewing possible presidential campaign staffers in recent weeks.\nClinton already has a core of presidential campaign veterans on her staff and about $10 million left in the bank from her Senate campaign that can be converted to a presidential campaign. She also has her husband, former President Bill Clinton, as her main political adviser.\nBayh acknowledged he faces an uphill battle to make his name a household one and become president.\n"As the people get to know me, I think we'll do very well. I've been a successful two-term governor with a record of delivering results. I now have national security experience from my presence in the Senate," Bayh said.\n"But most importantly," he told moderator George Stephanopoulos of "This Week" on ABC, "I have a deep appreciation for how broken this city is, how desperately we need someone who will unite the American people for the common purpose of building this country.\n"And I think they'll know that about me. So, look, we have a lot of potential. But to answer your question: Is this a little bit like David and Goliath? A little bit, but as I recall, David did OK"
