US Rep. Hill decides against run for governor

INDIANAPOLIS -- U.S. Rep. Baron Hill said Tuesday that he would not run for governor in 2004, becoming the sixth big-name Democrat to decline a bid in the past six weeks.\nState Democratic Party Chairman Peter Manous and other leading Indiana Democrats had been encouraging Hill to run.\nScott Downes, a spokesman in Hill's Washington office, said Tuesday that Hill had decided against a bid.\nHill was elected in November to his second two-year term representing southeastern Indiana in the U.S. House. He is a former state legislator and was the Democrats' candidate for U.S. Senate in 1990, losing to then-Sen. Dan Coats.\nThe announcement leaves former state and national Democratic Party Chairman Joe Andrew and state Sen. Vi Simpson of Bloomington as the party's most-likely candidates.\nAndrew has said he is considering a run but has not yet announced a decision. Simpson announced last week that she was forming an exploratory committee, which will allow her to begin raising campaign money.\nThe Democratic bid to succeed two-term Gov. Frank O'Bannon was thrown off balance when Lt. Gov. Joe Kernan, the presumptive candidate, announced Dec. 9 he would not run.\nU.S. Sen. Evan Bayh, a former two-term governor, Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson, former U.S. Rep. Tim Roemer and former House Speaker John Gregg already had ruled out bids.