But the Utah Republican says he has no plans to fold his GOP presidential bid after Monday's Iowa caucuses and focus on his Senate re-election campaign.

"I don't intend to do worse than fourth" in Iowa, Hatch said by telephone Friday while traveling between campaign stops in Fort Dodge and Des Moines. "We'll just have to see. It doesn't mean that we're out of it if I don't finish fourth."

Hatch, 65, has been stressing his experience as a four-term senator and chairman of the Judiciary Committee. "We're talking about a position where you better know how to deal with Congress," Hatch said.

That message hasn't done much to stir Iowa voters. Hatch has been lagging far behind the five other Republican contenders in fund-raising and opinion polls for months. A Des Moines Register poll last week put him at 2 percent, last in the GOP field.

"His campaign has certainly been below standard," said Hugh Winebrenner, a Drake University professor and Iowa caucus expert. "Until recently, he's been very unsure of himself and not very aggressive in his campaigning. He's been in the shadow of everyone else and allowed himself to be in that shadow."

Hatch said he's "not sure the polls tell anything" and insists he's found plenty of supporters on the snowy Iowa plains.

"I don't think the Iowans are going to let the Eastern liberal press tell them how Orrin Hatch is going to do," said Hatch, who nonetheless acknowledged finishing last in Iowa "has crossed my mind."

No matter how he fares, Hatch vows to soldier on at least until Feb. 1, when New Hampshire holds its first-in-the-nation presidential primary. His prospects there don't look any better, however. An ABC-Washington Post poll of New Hampshire voters released Tuesday had Hatch tied with Gary Bauer for last place with 1 percent.

Hatch jumped into the presidential race relatively late -- last July -- and has had trouble drawing conservative voters attracted by rivals Bauer, Alan Keyes and Steve Forbes, Iowa State University professor Steffen Schmidt said.

"Caucuses, I've always said, are in great part about personality and style and persona and confidence. He didn't have any of those sufficient to outshine the other," said Schmidt, who hosts a radio call-in show as "Dr. Politics."

"I never could understand why he wanted to get into the race."

Hatch has heard this criticism before, and it clearly irks him.

"I'm doing this because I love this country. I love our constitution," Hatch said. "I'm worried about your children and my children, Iowans' grandchildren and my grandchildren. I'm worried about the future of this country."