Utah’s Hatch Considers Run for President
Sen. Orrin G. Hatch of Utah is reportedly mulling a longshot bid for the White House. The four-term senator would become the 11th Republican vying for the party’s nomination.
Both the Salt Lake Tribune and Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper, reported Thursday that the senator was considering a run for the presidency, quoting advisors.
Asked whether he was thinking about entering the race, the 65-year-old Hatch said: “I’ve had people come to me, and I’m certainly courteously listening. I’m not pushing them away. I’m just listening.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee chairman is up for reelection in 2000. A new Utah law would allow him to run for the Senate and White Houses at the same time.
Hatch acknowledged he would be “the longest of the longshots” in a field whose front-runner is Texas Gov. George W. Bush.
Other GOP hopefuls are former American Red Cross President Elizabeth Hanford Dole; publisher Steve Forbes; former Vice President Dan Quayle; former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander; conservative activists Gary Bauer, Patrick J. Buchanan and Alan Keyes; Rep. John R. Kasich of Ohio; and Sens. Bob Smith of New Hampshire and John McCain of Arizona.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
