3rd-Party Run Likely for Sen. Smith

Sen. Bob Smith of New Hampshire is expected to announce next week that he will leave the Republican Party and continue his campaign for the presidency as an independent or third-party candidate, a source close to the campaign said Friday.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Smith was talking to Republican Party leaders, friends and supporters about leaving the GOP.

Republican state Rep. Tom Rice said Smith’s office told him the senator will make his announcement Tuesday. “But whether he was forming a third party or going with an existing one, I don’t know.”

Smith was not taking media calls Friday, said Karen Hickey, his campaign spokeswoman.

Smith was planning to leave the party not because of his campaign, which has garnered little support, but because of his philosophical objection to the direction of the party’s mainstream, the source said. Smith has criticized other Republicans for saying the party must soften its hard-line position on gun control and other conservative issues to have a chance of winning the White House in 2000.

Republican National Committee Chairman Jim Nicholson sent Smith a letter telling him that leaving the party would be a “serious mistake for you personally, with only a marginal political impact--and a counterproductive one at that.”

Smith has said he might form his own party, or run as a candidate for either the Reform Party or U.S. Taxpayer Party. He supports low taxes, a strong national defense and school prayer. He strongly opposes abortion and gun control.

Pat Benjamin, national vice chairwoman of the Reform Party, said Smith had talked to party Chairman Russell Verney about how the Reform Party primary works, as well as what forming another party would involve.

She said he was welcome to pursue the Reform Party nomination. “The more people who come in and try to become our nominee, the better,” she said.

“I think the No. 1 challenge he would face is that he tends to emphasize social issues, and in the Reform Party, we’ve chosen our membership to not address social issues. There’s nothing in our platform about social issues.”

“Our issues focus on economics, political reform,” she said.