LITTLETON – When the campaign of presidential candidate Barack Obama prepared to come into town last week, a request for a hand in providing security for the Illinois Democrat landed on the desk of Police Chief Paul Smith.

At last night's selectmen's meeting, Smith and Town Manager Charles Connell asked whether the board wanted to think about drafting a policy for such occasions.

"Where there is something like 22 candidates running, if we agreed to one, we would have to do all," Connell said.

Smith said he considered the Obama campaign's request, even asking who would pay for the overtime.

"The Secret Service and the State Police said they would not," Connell said, adding that the campaign did not have the money, either.

"Why should it be up to the taxpayers of Littleton to provide that?" asked resident Ed Boynton.

The cost of providing a detail for such an event is about $500. Two weeks ago, former President Bill Clinton was in the North Country campaigning for his wife, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and while a stop in Littleton was considered, he ended up making appearances in Gorham and Whitefield.

"That money would come out of the operating budget," Smith said. "We're a lot more frugal these days -- I don't have a line item for that" in the department budget.

In the end, Smith worked with State Police and scheduled on-duty officers around the Obama event, which included an appearance at Littleton High School.

But, Smith noted, campaign workers were in town for four days prior to the visit and Obama himself spent two nights in town.

"Another side of the coin is that if you have a presidential candidate, there's usually an entourage that follows," Connell said. "Rather than just deny the request because of overtime, we thought there was a need to bring it to the selectmen" to see if they wanted to consider a policy.

Smith said a lot of larger communities were "having the same problem and chiefs of police are trying to figure out a policy."

Turning down a request could, he said, potentially turn money away from the community.

"I had an issue using taxpayers' money for a political campaign," Smith said. "We worked it out this time, and not all candidates request security. We will try to work it out in the future, but I have a major question about expending overtime for political campaigns."

After the discussion, and noting that the New Hampshire primary is in just a few weeks and there are no campaign appearances looming, selectmen said they would count on Smith's judgment.

"We trust you to use common sense and live within your budget," said Selectman Brien Ward. "I don't think we want to micromanage your department."

And, he noted, there will be plenty of time in the next three-and-a-half years, before the 2012 primary rolls around, to take another look at the issue.