Copyright 1999 The New York Times Company
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October 3, 1999, Sunday, Late Edition - Final
SECTION: Section 1; Page 38; Column
1; National Desk
LENGTH: 1097 words
HEADLINE: Hatch Dreams a Senator's
Dream
BYLINE: By DAVID E. ROSENBAUM
DATELINE: WASHINGTON, Oct. 2
BODY:
In the last quarter-century, only one
senator, Bob Dole in 1996, has won his party's nomination for President.
But this has not been for lack of trying. Some of the most prominent
senators in both parties have tried for the nomination and lost badly, among
them the Democrats Edward M. Kennedy, John Glenn and Henry M. Jackson and the
Republicans Howard H. Baker Jr., Phil Gramm and Richard G. Lugar.
In
1984, when Senator Ernest F. Hollings of South Carolina was running a campaign
for the Democratic nomination that went nowhere, a reporter asked him whether
all senators dreamed of becoming President. "Every damn one, every damn day,"
Mr. Hollings replied, an observation that he says holds true today.
This
year, the prominent Senator running seemingly quixotically for President is
Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, a 65-year-old Republican, the chairman
of the Judiciary Committee, a fixture on the Sunday television interview
programs and a masterly deal-maker with a wide range of legislative
accomplishments over 22 years in the Senate, including expansion of health
insurance and a measure to contain terrorism.
In August, Senator
Hatch finished last among nine contestants in the Iowa straw
poll. He was second to Alan L. Keyes, the radio talk-show host, in the Alabama
straw poll. They were the only two competing.
Mr. Hatch
has raised barely $1 million, less than 2 percent of the $56 million collected
by the front-runner, Gov. George W. Bush of Texas. Tied to Washington by his
legislative responsibilities, he spent only a few days campaigning last month.
No one in Republican circles outside his own campaign staff believes he
stands a chance to win the nomination. Senator Hatch concedes
that his candidacy is a long shot.
So why is he running? Here is how he
answered that question in an interview in his office this week:
"The
single most important issue is who's going to appoint the up to five Supreme
Court Justices and the 50 percent of the rest of the judiciary. I'm very
concerned about having Al Gore or Bill Bradley do that. In fact, I'm concerned
about having any of the other Republican candidates do that because none of them
have any experience in this area. I have more experience than all the rest put
together.
"Beyond that, it's going to take a conservative with guts to
handle the nation's problems, to solve Social Security and Medicare, and I'm the
conservative with the most guts."
He is way behind, he said, because he
started late, not announcing his candidacy until July 1. "Let's face it," he
went on, "most people don't even know I'm in the race. I found that some of my
closest friends in California didn't know it."
He takes heart, Mr.
Hatch said, from his experience in his first race for the
Senate in 1976. When he started running, he was a lawyer in private practice
hardly known around his state. "All of a sudden, the dust cleared," he said,
"and I was the United States Senator."
As for Governor Bush, "He's way
ahead in the polls, but he's a mile wide and an inch deep," said Mr.
Hatch, who tends to talk about himself in the third person.
"Orrin Hatch is 40 miles deep and 10 inches wide."
Mr.
Hatch continued on Mr. Bush: "He's a very fine person. I love
his parents. But I'm concerned because you have a man here who has four years of
experience in a constitutionally weak governorship. Does that qualify him to go
up against an Al Gore or a Bill Bradley?"
Here is Mr.
Hatch's take on some of his other competitors:
Senator
John McCain of Arizona: "Can you name very many pieces of legislation he's done?
Has he been able to bring all sides together? He's the author of the
McCain-Feingold bill. That bill would wreck the Republican Party." (The bill,
which Mr. McCain is sponsoring with Senator Russell Feingold, Democrat of
Wisconsin, would eliminate unrestricted donations to political parties.)
Elizabeth Dole: "I wish her well. I don't think there are very many
people who believe she's going to be our nominee for President."
Steve
Forbes: "I don't think money is a qualification for being President of the
United States. A lot of us have worked very hard to make sure this party sheds
the image that it's the party of the rich."
Senator
Hatch's chief strategist, Sal Russo, said front-runners in
their first campaigns for President generally faltered. Mr.
Hatch's intention, Mr. Russo said, is to be around to pick up
the pieces if Mr. Bush founders.
In the end, Mr. Hatch
said, "it's going to come down to George Bush, John McCain and myself," and he
said the party will turn to him because of his experience.
But Mr.
Hatch's experience is entirely legislative, and he sounds more
like a legislator than a Presidential candidate. This is how he described his
ability to work with Democrats:
"Here's a fellow that put together the
Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act, the
Hatch-Waxman bill. Here's a fellow that put together the child
care development block grant, the Hatch-Dodd bill. Here's a
fellow that put together the capital gains rate reduction, the
Hatch-Lieberman bill. Here's a fellow that put together the
Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act with Tom Harkin. Here's a fellow
that put together countless legislative enactments with none other than the
bugaboo of all conservatives, Ted Kennedy."
The other Senator from Utah,
Robert F. Bennett, who is also a Republican, said legislative experience did not
always prepare politicians well for Presidential campaigns.
"A campaign
is an executive-oriented exercise," Mr. Bennett explained. "If you've spent
years working out deals behind the scenes, it is not the same as making an
executive decision at high noon."
That may explain why so many senators
have failed to win their party's nomination for President. Technically, even Mr.
Dole was not a Senator when he was nominated. With the nomination sewed up, he
resigned from the Senate in June 1996, a month before the Republican nominating
convention.
But it should not be surprising, Mr. Bennett said, that so
many senators try to become President. "In the Senate," he said, "you have
access to people who have great power. And the closer you get to people who have
great power, the easier it is to convince yourself that you're as smart as he
is, and you say to yourself, 'I can see these issues as clearly as he can, maybe
clearer, and if he can do the job, certainly I can.' "
As for Mr.
Hatch, he is hedging his bet. In addition to his Presidential
campaign, he is running, as Utah law permits, for re-election to a fifth term in
the Senate.
http://www.nytimes.com
GRAPHIC: Photo: Senator Orrin G. Hatch
of Utah concedes that his candidacy for the Republican nomination is a long
shot, but says his plan is to pick up the pieces if Gov. George W. Bush of Texas
falters in his bid for the Presidency. (Stephen Crowley/The New York Times)
LOAD-DATE: October 3, 1999 
