SHELOCTA, Pa. -- Tom Smith was mowing wheat on his 400-acre Armstrong County farm last summer when he decided he would run for U.S. Senate.

Smith was born and raised on this stretch of land an hour's drive outside Pittsburgh where coal mines neighbor corn farms, and he remembers wondering that day how the national debt would impact his grandchildren, some of whom also live on the farm. After talking it over with his wife and his pastor, Smith changed his voter registration from Democrat to Republican, and began a bid for the Republican nomination to challenge incumbent Democrat -- and Pennsylvania brand name -- Bob Casey.

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