Starting & Smoke

What is your question?

I have a 1998 Nissan Maxima. I am currently having a starting problem with my car. Sometime it starts right up, then at other times I have to start it 2 or 3 times before it catches. My car was hard to start yesterday, but when it finally turned over I noticed there was white smoke coming from the tailpipe. It wasn't smoking steady, but when it finally did turn over a glob of white smoke came out of the tailpipe. What could be causing this? I normally would say a bad starter, but I don't think a bad starter would cause smoke. Any ideas of what could be the problem.