Kyle Green | The Roanoke Times

U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., addresses a crowd in downtown Roanoke during a rally Sunday for Sen. Barack Obama and his running mate, Sen. Joe Biden. Bayh was filling in for Biden.

Roanoke Valley Democrats missed a chance to see Barack Obama in person when a windstorm kept him from flying into the Star City in February.

Sunday, they missed a scheduled appearance by Obama's running mate, Joe Biden, when the vice presidential candidate was called to the bedside of his gravely ill mother-in-law, who died later in the day.

But the couple hundred supporters who showed up at Roanoke's Century Plaza downtown about noon Sunday were enthusiastic about Biden's surrogate -- Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh.

The Hoosier State's junior senator considered a bid for the White House himself a couple of years ago but decided against a run in this election.

In his folksy Midwestern delivery, Bayh reminded the audience of his Virginia ties -- he attended law school at the University of Virginia -- and proceeded to blast John McCain and his ties to the Bush presidency.

Bayh praised McCain's service to his country and said he "is not a bad man, but he is badly mistaken to adopt the Bush legacy."

He said McCain's positions on health care, taxes, energy and the current financial crisis were all likely to make things worse for American families.

Lamenting the loss of "700,000 jobs since January," Bayh asserted Obama has outlined proposals to restore economic health.

Obama's plan to promote the production of "green energy" alone would create 4 million jobs, Bayh said.

And, speaking under a huge banner with the word "Change" emblazoned on it, he said Obama has a plan to arrest the spending of $10 billion a month on the Iraq war because the Iraqi government has billions of dollars in surplus wealth.

In a new Democratic administration, "Regardless of race, creed or religion, we will join in the common cause of lifting the middle-class family up," Bayh said. "There is no challenge we cannot overcome."

Sam Rasoul, the Democratic challenger to 6th District Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke County, got a few minutes with the microphone before Bayh's remarks to promote his candidacy.

And Democratic Party staffers exhorted the crowd to join in the daily door-to-door canvassing they hope to intensify in the final weeks before the election.