Orrin Grant Hatch is a man of contradictions.
Reared a Democrat in a union family, he became a union-basher, a die-hard Republican in his early political years.While an avowed conservative, he's worked with one of the most liberal senators, Ted Kennedy, to pass federal social and health programs that Hatch believes makes sense.
Criticizing Washington's big-government intrusions into personal lives, he's championed several new federal social programs aimed at helping the poor and needy.
Wearing starched collars, standing straight-backed in finely tailored suits, Hatch is seen by some as a caricature of a stiff moralistic leader. But others praise the compassionate Hatch, a deeply religious man who counsels, forgives, encourages.
Washington is a tough place, known for chewing up careers and friendships. While a number of ex-staffers of some Utah congressmen have nary a good word to say about their former bosses, Hatch's 23 years in office leaves behind a string of loyal former employees.
But at times, he's taken personal friendship way beyond politics -- the most recent example is his holding up dozens of federal judge appointees in his Judiciary Committee until President Clinton cried uncle and agreed to nominate Hatch-friend Ted Stewart to Utah's federal bench.
Why run for president?
And now, at an age when many politicians consider winding down their careers, comes Hatch's admitted long-shot race for president of the United States.
Hatch himself says it would take a miracle for him to win.
While not quite desperate for campaign money (hey, he has no money in his presidential coffers), Hatch is asking 1 million Americans to give him $36 each -- that would total the same amount front-runner Texas Gov. George W. Bush has already raised in the Republican nomination process.
If he can't get enough cash to run a come-from-behind race, Hatch says that will show a lack of support and he'll quit.
Hatch's wife, Elaine, says running for president is his life-long dream, now fulfilled.
Some of Hatch's best Utah GOP friends are already on Bush's bandwagon -- planning on attending a Bush Utah campaign visit this coming week. And they wonder privately if Hatch's presidential run is more like a nightmare than a dream.
But for now, Hatch is in and running hard.
A life of challenges and upsets
At 65, Hatch has been on the Utah political scene since 1976 when he made, what many believed at the time, was an underdog run for the U.S. Senate.
In fact, one long-time friend of Hatch's remembers that when Hatch told a group of political advisors in 1975 that he planned to run for the Senate, several advised him that until he became better known in the state he should consider running for the Utah House, not the Utah Senate.
Then Hatch startled the group when he said he meant the U.S. Senate.
Hatch got into the race anyway and in what has become one of his hallmarks outworked other GOP candidates. He edged a local Republican in the primary and then faced 18-year-incumbent Democratic Sen. Frank Moss.
Moss was considered unbeatable. But Hatch staged the upset, knocking Moss out 54-percent-to-45-percent. No Democrat has held a U.S. Senate seat from Utah since.
Hatch went on to win re-election in 1982 over well-known Democrat Ted Wilson; 1988 over Moss's son, Brian; and 1996 over Pat Shea, now a top official in President Clinton's Interior Department.
Utahn or Pennsylvanian?
Hatch, from Utah Mormon stock, actually was born and raised in Pittsburgh, where his father worked as a metal lather and was a strong union man. Father, Jesse, and mother, Helen, now both deceased, moved to Pittsburgh in 1923 to be near her mother.
But Hatch's roots were always in Utah, Hatch says. Hatch notes on his current Web page that his great-grandfather, Jeremiah Hatch, was one of the founders of Vernal.
Hatch likes to tell the story -- now to distinguish himself from other candidates -- of how poor the Hatch family of Pittsburgh was. At one point, his father hand-built a small house out of wood and building scraps. And for a short time there was no indoor toilet.
Hatch's older brother, Jess, was killed in World War II. And Hatch says that upon hearing of the death of his brother -- whom he idolized -- a lock of his hair just above his forehead turned white. The white hair was prominent in Hatch's appearance during his early years in the Senate, but as his hair thinned and turned grey the white lock disappeared.
Hatch didn't actually live in Utah until he attended Brigham Young University, graduating in 1959. He then won a scholarship to the University of Pittsburgh Law School and worked several jobs to support his young family while attending school.
While at BYU he married Elaine Hansen of Newton, Utah. They have six children and 18 grandchildren. One of Hatch's sons married into the Marriott family, which founded the Marriott Hotel empire.
Hatch usually holds political events in the Marriott Hotels, and when he sponsored a breakfast earlier this month at the state Republican Convention the food was catered by Marriott.
Upon graduating law school, Hatch practiced in Pennsylvania and at one time was a labor lawyer.
He likes to joke about finding the error of his ways and becoming a strong Republican. When he moved to Utah in 1969 he set up a law practice with Wally Plumb, the son of one of Utah's best known Democratic workers, the late Dolly Plumb. Ironically, Dolly Plumb was a top aide for then-Salt Lake Mayor Ted Wilson when Wilson ran against Hatch in 1982.
Long rise to the top
Hatch went to the Senate in 1976 just two years after former GOP-Sen. Jake Garn won Utah's other Senate seat. And for a time Hatch seemed to chafe under the title of "junior" Utah senator.
Hatch was prone to give long speeches on the Senate floor and in committees in his early years and won the unfortunate nickname of "borin' Orrin."
When Democrats were in the majority in the 1970s Hatch struck up a friendship with powerful Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass, although he often opposed Kennedy's initiatives in several committees where the two served.
Hatch has held the powerful post of chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee since Republicans took over the Senate in 1994.
While Hatch has had several high-profile moments in the Senate, one has to be his staunch defense of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas during the 1991 sexual harassment hearings concerning allegations by Anita Hill. Hatch's performance won the ongoing enmity of a number of feminists.
The Senator tossed leading questions to Thomas and at one point read excerpts from the book "The Exorcist," implying that Hill made up some of her graphic testimony about Thomas' actions from reading the book.
Compassionate conservative
While considering himself a conservative and on the moral right, Hatch has been criticized by right-wing Republicans for his support of a number of government programs.
Delegates to the 1998 Utah GOP Convention actually passed a resolution condemning Hatch's children's health insurance program. In a show of defiance, Hatch took the stage and lectured the 5,000 hard-core GOP delegates on the responsibility of man helping fellow man.
At times Hatch -- who has been known to befriend troubled souls with personal problems -- has found himself a strange counselor. Hatch was reportedly embarrassed after press reports surfaced that he'd counseled Kennedy to control his drinking and get married.
And Hatch eased up on criticism of Clinton after reportedly having a 45-minute cell phone conversation with the president on personal matters soon after Clinton addressed the nation last year confessing he'd lied about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky.
In recent years, Hatch has written a number of religious songs, which have been published on tapes and discs. In 1997, Hatch wrote a love song for Kennedy and his wife upon their fifth wedding anniversary, a song that Hatch said at the time brought tears to Kennedy's eyes.
"He does have the demeanor of a preacher, and the heart of one, too," says Hatch biographer Lee Roderick of the former LDS bishop and missionary.
Hatch's friend and former campaign manager Bud Scruggs (now a member of the Deseret News board of directors), says: "In his heart of hearts, Orrin believes that no one is beyond redemption as long as someone believes in him. A lot of times he's assigned himself to be that person to believe in them and embrace them."