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Indiana's open Senate race between Democratic Rep. Brad Ellsworth and Republican former Sen. Dan Coats has gotten scant attention from the national media since Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh announced earlier this year that he would not seek a third term.

Indeed, more media attention in the Hoosier State has been focused on the state's Republican governor, Mitch Daniels, who is not up for re-election this year but whose political maneuvers suggest he might be positioning himself for a presidential run in 2012. But on Wednesday, Ellsworth's campaign heralded Bayh as a surrogate, offering him for TV interviews from the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington to discuss the state of the race.

So far, however, the biggest news to come out of one of those interviews was about Bayh's own political future. Asked by the Indianapolis NBC affiliate when he would make a decision about running for governor in 2012, Bayh said, "I don't know what I will be doing next. I will say there has been a lot of speculation and over-speculation, I should say. I don't want to lead anybody on. I will think about what I do next after Thanksgiving and New Year's and then I have a decision to make."

Bayh plugged Ellsworth's values and independence in the interview and noted Ellsworth's commitment to keeping taxes down, which Ellsworth discussed himself on Wednesday in an appearance on Neil Cavuto's show on FOX News.

Coats adviser Kevin Kellems dismissed the Bayh appearances. "This is simply a standard and required Democrat party solidarity move on Sen. Bayh's part," he said. "No real news here: a Democrat endorsing a Democrat."

Nevertheless, a Democratic Senate strategist said Ellsworth has been running an increasingly aggressive campaign. Although local news reports within the last week point out that Ellsworth's campaign has taken a hiatus from airing TV ads, the campaign has made the candidate more available to the media in press conferences, and Bayh's emergence on Wednesday appears to be part of that strategy.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has not reserved space to advertise in the state this fall, suggesting the race is not high on its list of seats to protect, and none of the independent, public polling available on the race shows Ellsworth cracking 40 percent support.