What a year.  Republican Scott Brown wins in Massachusetts, Congressman Buyer retires, and according to reports late today, former Indiana Senator Dan Coats will announce Wednesday that he will seek to challenge Evan Bayh.  Politico is reporting:

Former Indiana Sen. Dan Coats plans to announce Wednesday that he will challenge Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh in November, a senior Republican official told POLITICO.

Coats held the seat Bayh currently occupies for 10 years before retiring in 1998. Since leaving Congress, he has worked as a lobbyist and served as U.S. ambassador to Germany during the George W. Bush administration.

“Coats deciding to run is a product of the environment we’re in right now,” the GOP official said. “This is a great opportunity for us. We have a real player on the field that they weren’t expecting us to have.”

Former Rep. John Hostettler and state Sen. Marlin Stutzman are already in the race on the Republican side. — Politico

Coats has exactly two weeks from today to collect the 500 signatures per Congressional District that it will take to get on the ballot.  It’s hard to know if he can pull it together that fast, but he’s an immediate game changer for sure and will draw needed attention and money to the Republican primary and the race against Bayh.