Writer On Morality Bennett Says Voters Seek Fresh Faces

While sharing coffee, croissants and his views on the moral status of the Clinton presidency with reporters last week, conservative author William J. Bennett argued that a dissatisfied country will be seeking a breath of fresh, ethically unchallenged air in 2000. The question is, will that breeze deliver someone like Frank Keating, Republican governor of Oklahoma, to the White House? According to Bennett, who thinks governors represent the party’s best hope, it just might.

Bennett singled out the former FBI agent and Reagan-Bush administration official for particular praise as a fresh face with unsullied moral stature. Bennett, himself an alum of the Reagan and Bush administrations, lunched with Keating recently and found him “very impressive” with an “impeccable record,” while acknowledging the small-state governor “doesn’t have as much luster or fame as his neighbor from Texas,” referring to Gov. George W. Bush, R.

Even if the Keating balloon fails to float, Bennett suggested Republicans with adulterous skeletons should not even bother showing up in 2000, when the media will have little choice but to perform full closet searches. Bennett said, “Notice to Republican candidates: If you committed adultery, I don’t think you are going to get the nomination.”