ASHINGTON - Senator Bob Smith of New Hampshire, a conservative firebrand and self-styled outsider, is poised to bolt the Republican Party and wage his quest for the presidency as a third-party or independent candidate, sources in his campaign said yesterday.
In a move certain to imperil his political career in New Hampshire if his long-shot bid for the presidency fails, Smith is expected to announce on the Senate floor Tuesday that he no longer can abide what he sees as a Republican retreat from conservatism.
Reform Party officials said Smith has inquired about the possibility of seeking the presidency on their ticket. But sources close to Smith said he has yet to determine if he will seek a third-party's presidential nomination or run for the White House in 2000 as an independent.
In either case, Smith's 22-year career in Republican politics, which began in the obscurity of the Governor Wentworth Regional School Board in Wolfeboro, would be over. And he would become an instant pariah to Republican leaders. ''This is a selfish move and is doomed to failure,'' said Steve Duprey, chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party. ''It signals the end of his political career in New Hampshire.''
Smith's decision immediately triggered speculation that his Senate seat will be up for grabs in 2002. Notable among the potential GOP contenders is US Representative John E. Sununu, the son of the former governor and White House chief of staff, John H. Sununu. The Democratic field could include the current governor, Jeanne Shaheen.
Smith's spokeswoman, Karen Hickey, said the senator was vacationing in Tuftonboro and was not speaking with the news media.
But Jim Nicholson, the Republican Party national chairman, spared few words in his angry reaction to Smith's decision. Nicholson warned in a letter to Smith that abandoning the GOP ''would be a serious mistake for you personally.''
Nicholson said Smith, whose presidential campaign has attracted scant support, even among the GOP rank and file in New Hampshire, was not faltering because Republicans had fled from their conservative principles. Instead, Nicholson blamed Smith. ''I hope you don't confuse the success of our shared message with your own failure as its messenger,'' Nicholson wrote.
Some of Smith's staunchest New Hampshire supporters also expressed doubt about the wisdom of his decision. ''I'll tell you very frankly, I'm very disappointed,'' said state Representative James E. P. Rice Jr., a Laconia Republican.
Rice, who volunteered to work for Smith the day after he announced his candidacy for the GOP nomination in February, said he raised his concerns with Smith's state field director, Kevin Smith, who informed him of the senator's decision. ''My fear is that if his third-party candidacy gathers any real steam he could elect Al Gore, just like Ross Perot did for Clinton,'' Rice said.
''I've been a supporter of Bob Smith's since 1980, but I think he has just committed political suicide,'' said state Representative David A. Welch, a Kingston Republican. ''He has also let down all the people who have depended on him to carry their issues.''
Smith's standing in the Senate also could be jeopardized by his flight from the GOP. In addition to losing his seniority rights, he could be stripped of his chairmanship of the ethics committee.
''I trust, if the reports are true, this issue will be discussed by the Senate Republican Conference with Senator Smith,'' said John Czwartacki, a spokesman for the majority leader, Trent Lott.
In Dallas, Russell Verney, the Reform Party's executive director, noted that Smith joins two other possible candidates for the party's nomination: commentator Patrick J. Buchanan and former Connecticut governor Lowell Weicker. Buchanan is currently a candidate for the Republican nomination.
Verney said any of the candidates could benefit from bypassing the bruising GOP primary and tapping the Reform Party's $12.5 million in federal matching funds. But the stakes would be higher for Smith, Verney said, because he would risk his future in the Senate. ''For him, it's a real career decision,'' Verney said, ''rather than a political decision.''
