CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - More than a decade after he left office and the state, former U.S. Sen. Bob Smith has returned to run for his old seat because he says too many people in Washington have no sense of urgency or vision to restore the nation to greatness.
Smith, who recently moved back to New Hampshire from Florida, is among several Republicans competing for a chance to unseat Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen.
He announced his campaign Tuesday, saying he has the experience, knowledge and fortitude to wrest power from Washington bureaucrats.
“If our current leaders were serious about restoring our constitutional Republic, balancing our budget, reducing our debt, strengthening our military, and setting policies to create new jobs, I wouldn’t be standing here today,” he said. “It’s about saving the United States of America.”
It all comes down to a simple choice, Smith said: “Sacrifice your freedoms on the altar of the central planners in Washington, or reclaim your liberties and freedoms under our Constitution.”
Smith, 72, spent three terms in the U.S. House and two in the Senate before losing the 2002 primary to John E. Sununu, who went on to win the seat. In 1999, Smith ran for president, dropped out of the Republican Party, became an independent, ended his presidential campaign and returned to the GOP. In 2004, Smith endorsed Democrat John Kerry for president and briefly ran for a U.S. Senate seat in Florida.
He said Tuesday that he was never serious about the Florida campaign and that the Kerry endorsement was a mistake he made out of anger and now regrets.
“If there are those who believe that was a defining moment … and they can’t support me, I respect that completely,” he said. “All I can do is apologize.”
A WMUR Granite State Poll released Jan. 31 found more than half of the voters polled have never heard of Smith, and among the rest, more had an unfavorable opinion of him than had a positive view. In a general election matchup, Shaheen had 47 percent support to Smith’s 36 percent.
But he brushed aside any suggestion that his best days are behind him.
“You got a problem with old people?” he asked a reporter. “There was a guy named Reagan who did pretty well for us in his 70s.”
Smith faces former state Sen. Jim Rubens and conservative activist Karen Testerman in the GOP primary. But he said he won’t compare himself to his opponents and will focus on Shaheen, a former governor who defeated Sununu in 2008. He plans to make her support for President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul law a key issue, and several times repeated the refrain “President Obama and Sen. Shaheen told us …” in describing ways the law has not delivered on its promises.
In a fundraising pitch sent shortly after Smith’s announcement, Shaheen’s campaign responded: “Smith was Tea Party before it had a name, but he’s also won a Senate seat here before.” The state Democratic Party, citing Smith’s opposition to abortion, gay marriage and gun control, called him out of step with New Hampshire values.
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