Bob Smith (New Hampshire politician)

Robert Clinton Smith (born March 30, 1941) is an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives for New Hampshire's 1st congressional district from 1985 to 1990 and the state of New Hampshire in the United States Senate from 1990 to 2003.

He served in the United States Navy Reserve from 1962 to 1965 as an ensign, and was on active duty from 1965 to 1967, including a year in Vietnam.

He obtained a bachelor's degree from Lafayette College in 1965 and did graduate work at California State University, Long Beach.

He remained in the Navy Reserve until 1969.

Smith settled in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, where he taught history and English.

He also served on his local school board and got into the real estate business as owner and operator of the Yankee Pedlar brokerage.

His opponent was Democrat John A. Durkin, who had previously served in the Senate from 1975 to 1980.

Smith beat him in a landslide, taking 65% of the vote to Durkin's 31%.

Humphrey resigned in December after being elected to the New Hampshire Senate and Smith was appointed to replace him for the final two months of his term.

Smith ran for New Hampshire's 1st congressional district in the 1982 elections.

With the recession and President Reagan's unpopularity aiding Democratic candidates, Smith lost to incumbent Norman D'Amours by 55% to 45%.

First elected to the House of Representatives as a Republican in 1984, he was re-elected twice before running for the Senate in 1990, winning the open seat and assuming it early when incumbent Gordon J. Humphrey resigned.

D'Amours did not seek re-election in 1984, unsuccessfully running for the U.S. Senate instead and Smith was elected in his place, riding Reagan's coattails to beat Democrat Dudley Dudley by 59% to 40%.

A member of NH's Executive Council, her campaign slogan was "Dudley Dudley, Worth Repeating".

Smith responded "Dudley Dudley, Liberal Liberal".

The Vietnam War POW/MIA issue, concerning the fate of possible missing or captured Americans in Vietnam, became Smith's major issue in Congress in 1985, partly spurred on by his growing up without knowing how his own father died in World War II.

Smith was re-elected in 1986 and 1988 by wide margins, first beating Democrat James M. Demers 56% to 44%, then beating Democrat Joseph F. Keefe by 60% to 40%.

Smith did not run for re-election in 1990, instead running for the U.S. Senate seat that was being vacated by retiring Republican Gordon J. Humphrey, who was retiring after pledging not to serve more than two terms.

Smith helped create, and served as vice-chairman of, the 1991–1993 Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs.

In 1994, Smith and fellow Republican senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina introduced an amendment denying federal funding to schools which promoted homosexuality in their curricula.

The amendment passed by a vote of 63–36.

He was re-elected in 1996 and then entered the Republican primary for the 2000 presidential election.

After failing to gain traction, he withdrew before the primaries began and joined the Taxpayers' Party, seeking their nomination instead.

He then changed parties again, becoming an Independent before dropping out of the presidential race altogether.

He then re-joined the Republican Party after the Chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works became open, which he then assumed.

Smith ran for re-election in 1996 and only narrowly defeated Democratic former U.S. Representative Richard Swett, taking 49% of the vote to Swett's 46%.

Smith had established himself as the most conservative Senator from the Northeast, and Bill Clinton's coattails nearly caused his defeat.

On the night of the election many American media networks incorrectly projected that Swett had won.

During his tenure in the Senate, Smith was a strident opponent of gay rights.

In October 1997, President Bill Clinton nominated openly gay diplomat James Hormel to be United States Ambassador to Luxembourg, the first time an openly LGBT person had been nominated for an ambassadorship.

Smith, with fellow Republican Senators James Inhofe and Tim Hutchinson, campaigned vigorously against Hormel's nomination.

Along with Helms, he was also one of three Senators to vote against the confirmation of Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the Supreme Court in the same term.

In February 1999, at Kingswood Regional High School in Wolfeboro, Smith announced that he was a candidate for the Republican nomination for President of the United States (at the time the front-runner was Texas Governor George W. Bush).

In July, after failing to gain any ground in the presidential race and before any primaries or caucuses had taken place, Smith announced he was leaving the Republican Party and would seek the nomination of the Taxpayers' Party.

One month later, Smith left the Taxpayers Party after claiming that ideologues within the party resisted his candidacy due to his Roman Catholicism and announced as an Independent.

He withdrew completely from the race in October and endorsed Bush.

Smith ran for re-election in 2002 but lost the Republican primary to Congressman John E. Sununu, who won the general election.

After his defeat he moved to Florida and briefly ran for the Senate from there in 2004 and in 2010, but dropped out early on in both cases after faring poorly in polls of the Republican primary.

He subsequently returned to New Hampshire, where he declared his candidacy for the Republican nomination in the 2014 Senate election, but was defeated in the Republican primary by former U.S. Senator from Massachusetts Scott Brown.

Smith was born in Trenton, New Jersey, the son of Margaret (née Eldridge) and Donald Smith.