Utah’s Hatch Considers Run for President

WASHINGTON — 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.