Senator Announces Run at White House

Republican Sen. Bob Smith said he will file his candidacy for president on Monday. Smith, a conservative who has made the rounds in Iowa and his home state of New Hampshire to gauge support for his candidacy, said he will be the first to file with the Federal Election Commission, though several other potential candidates have established exploratory committees. Smith said the reception he got in the 20 or so states he has visited in the last 18 months persuaded him to run, though he has barely registered in the polls, even in New Hampshire. “The polls don’t mean anything,” Smith said. He said he would spend a lot of time in New Hampshire and Iowa, where the earliest primaries and caucuses are held. Smith served three terms in the House of Representatives before winning a Senate seat in 1990.