Through a twist of fate, a cafe owner from southern Indiana holds the hand that could throw the state Democratic Party into chaos.

Sen. Evan Bayh's retirement left political novice Tamyra D'Ippolito as the only Democrat with a shot at meeting the noon deadline Tuesday to qualify for the ballot in the May 4 primary. As of Monday afternoon, she needed about 1,000 more signatures to reach the required 4,500. She told Fox News on Tuesday she's confident she'll make it.

"We're gonna have the signatures," D'Ippolito said. "We're going to have them and we will be running."

That could be a shocker for establishment Democrats. Party leaders in Indiana and Washington say they fear that if she qualifies, she'll lose the seat in the general election to a more experienced Republican candidate like former Sen. Dan Coats...

Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh will not seek re-election this November, an unexpected decision that hands Republicans an opportunity for a pick-up in a year when Democrats are already defending several open Senate seats.

The two-term senator is known as a moderate Democrat. Former GOP Sen. Dan Coats had been planning to challenge Bayh in November -- but a senior Democratic source told Fox News that recent polling showed Bayh way ahead of Coats, and that the retirement must have been a personal decision...