Following Sen. Evan Bayh's surprise announcement of his intentions to retire, Fox News has wasted little time in attempting to influence the race. Yesterday, Fox & Friends hosted Tamyra D'Ippolito, a long shot Democratic candidate who was being promoted by right-wing bloggers who believed she would be an easily beatable candidate. D'Ippolito did not obtain enough signatures to be placed on the ballot for the Democratic primaries -- in fact, she didn't even come close -- despite the best efforts of Fox & Friends and the blogs to assist her in doing so.

Now that the race is wide open, Fox & Friends is already taking shots at Democrats who they think may end up choosing to run in Bayh's place. Today, Fox & Friends hosted two Indiana University journalism students who back in September 2009 were told that they could not videotape Rep. Baron Hill's town hall meeting, which they were attending. They claim Hill informed them that he had a policy of not allowing his town halls to be filmed because the films tended to end up being edited and exploited on YouTube. Judging by the town hall spectacles of last summer, it's easy to understand why Hill would hold such a position, unless, of course, you work at Fox (also, despite Hill's policy, Fox managed to find some video of the exchange between Hill and the student). Doocy repeatedly sniffed that most people probably wouldn't know about this story because the “mainstream media” didn't cover it. Doocy wasn't even subtle about his motivations for reporting on the story now: "[T]his got so little coverage from the mainstream media. We're bringing it up because it sounds like this guy is on the short list for Evan Bayh's seat."

So, imagine my lack of surprise when about an hour later, Fox hosted Dan Coats, the former Indiana senator who is likely to be on the Republican ticket for Bayh's old seat. Coats preemptively attacked whoever ends up being Democratic nominee because this candidate will be chosen by the Indiana Democratic Party, rather than the “people.” Yesterday was the deadline for Democratic candidates to submit signatures to be added to the primary ballot. Given that Bayh announced his retirement on Monday, this didn't really afford prospective candidates much time to collect the neccessary signatures. No matter. Coats also attacked Obama for failing to deliver the hope and “change” that Indiana voted for and declared that “liberals” have steered this country on the “wrong track.” Impressed, Doocy said to Coats: “Now, Dan, you have technically not officially declared yet. We have a camera, pointing right at ya. Anything you'd like to say?” Coats demurred from making a formal announcement, but all but announced his intentions to run anyway.

While interviewing Coats, Doocy did point out that there are “three other Republicans in addition to you” in the running for the Republican nomination. Any bets on how long it will take before they, too, get invited to appear on Fox & Friends?