Former Sen. Bob Smith, R-N.H, has a new project, called Americans for Accountability, or A4A, which debuted yesterday with a Freedom of Information Act request seeking "all Obama Administration documents and data pertaining to Sen. Tom Daschle's tax evasion." See here.

The group, which styles itself as an ethics watchdog, is described as a project of the American Patriot Foundation, a 501(c)(3) group, and is soliciting tax deductible contributions. That foundation was set up in 2003, by Smith and his friend Paul Rolf Jensen, a Costa Mesa, Calif. personal injury lawyer whose law office and the foundation share an address.

In its last tax filing, for 2003, the same year it was founded, the group reported spending more than half the $29,000 it received in contributions. That was shortly before Smith, who moved to Florida to sell real estate after his 2002 defeat in New Hampshire's Republican primary, briefly entered the Florida senate race for the seat now held by Sen. Mel Martinez. With Martinez retiring in 2010, Smith has been weighing another run at the seat, according to an article in late January in the New Hampshire Union Leader.

                                                                                                             -- Julie Kosterlitz