Mr. Smith goes against the odds

By Jill Zuckman, Globe Staff, January 11, 1999

JACKSON, N.H. -- Up here in the White Mountains, where the old clapboard inns blend into the snowy landscape, some locals are shaking their heads these days.

The state's senior senator, Bob Smith, has decided to run for president in 2000, entering what is sure to be a crowded, high-octane Republican field. About the best some of his conservative constituents can say is that he is over 35 and a US citizen, the two constitutional requirements to hold the nation's top office.

"I don't think it's a very good idea," said Ray Abbott, Jackson's town moderator and the owner of a tractor business. "I don't think it's good for him. I don't think he can make it. I feel very bad for him."

And that is from a man who counts himself a close friend of Smith. In fact, Abbott has supported Smith in each of his races and even says the two of them think alike when it comes to politics.

Smith's move may baffle some friends like Abbott, but in his against-the-odds outburst of national ambition he is hardly without company. Every four years, candidates seek the presidency for reasons that are unclear -- at least to political professionals and the media who tend to take it on themselves, even if no one asks, to anoint candidates as viable or not.

Four years ago presidential contenders shared the campaign stage with Alan Keyes, a former State Department official and talk-radio host; Michigan businessman Morry Taylor; and Robert K. Dornan, then a California representative. Each brought along a message and a dream, and a taste for time in the public eye.

This year Smith is the first to attempt the breakthrough from the fringes of conventional wisdom to the front of the pack. He starts with a resume that is the match of many a presidential hopeful -- senator, 15-year veteran of Congress, and a national reputation for passionate conservatism, particularly on the abortion issue. He also brings this asset to the campaign trail: indifference to what doubters, however legion, think of his efforts.

"Abraham Lincoln was criticized," Smith said. "Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs but people said he was a drunk. I don't care about the criticism. I know myself, I know who I am."

Still, in the fundamentals of a campaign, Smith starts short. He has little money in the bank. His organization is embryonic. Many Republicans around the state have been publicly lukewarm about his intentions and privately pained, almost as if a friend had lost his way. One measure of the expectations for Smith is whether he could scare away the GOP field from the first-in-the-nation primary state by virtue of his status as a native.

That will not happen, said potential rivals.

"He doesn't change anything in New Hampshire," said Paul Young, an adviser to publisher Steve Forbes. "No one is going to stay away from New Hampshire because most people believe they can beat Bob Smith here."

And yet, said Steve Duprey, New Hampshire's Republican chairman, Smith has surprised his political opponents repeatedly over the years, beginning with his first successful House race in 1984 and most recently with his under 50 percent victory in 1996.

"The political graveyard is littered with bodies of people who underestimated Bob Smith," Duprey said.

Smith, 57, said he got into this race to inspire people to do better, to help solve the nation's problems, and to bring young people into the political process.

"I do identify with Jimmy Stewart in the movie 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,' " he said. "He was a good person who took on the special interests and the power brokers. I believe in that, I know it might sound simplistic."

Smith, a Vietnam veteran, is a former high school civics and gym teacher from Tuftonboro, on Lake Winnipesaukee. His manner is not lofty, like some Senate orators, and he towers like a bear over most of his colleagues. On the floor, he is prone to thunder about soldiers missing in action in Vietnam, about businesses forced to clean up old pollution sites, and about the horror of abortion.

He once demonstrated a specific abortion procedure by bringing a plastic baby doll to the floor of the Senate and stabbing it repeatedly in the back of the neck.

Other pursuits that have raised eyebrows included an attempt to keep circus elephants off the Capitol lawn and a motion to stop NASA, on humanitarian grounds, from sending Russian monkeys up in space for biological research.

But many of the people who make their home in these mountains share their senator's views against abortion, gay rights, and anything that smacks of liberalism. They like his family values and they like him. With the decision by Missouri Senator John Ashcroft -- another powerful conservative voice -- not to run, there are few choices for voters on the right of the conservative spectrum.

"I do not think his candidacy is ridiculous," said Brenda Presby, the Carroll County commissioner who has long backed Smith. But, she said, other strong candidates may leave Smith unable "to garner the support that he needs."

Others question whether Smith has nationwide appeal.

"In New Hampshire, you don't know" what will happen, said Raymond Burton, the executive councilor who represents Jackson. "But I don't think on a national level too many green lights are blinking for him."