Political Wire:

Former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating (R) said today that “he’s done flirting with the idea of running for president,” the Oklahoman reports.

Said Keating: “It’s just not the right thing for me to do at this time.”

He also said “he would still like to go back to public life at some point. He said if Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) decides against running for re-election in 2008, he would consider running for the seat, but he said he expects Inhofe to run.”

With Keating’s decision not to run for the Republican nomination, the term “Reagan conservative” now defaults to former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore until further notice.

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Former Oklahoma governor Frank Keating is considering a presidential run. Not much to add on this from my end.

As he mulls a possible run for the presidency in 2008, former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating plans to visit with Republican party officials in South Carolina, which holds the first primary election in the South.

A South Carolina GOP official said the meeting would be private but that party activists who want to listen to Keating, 62, would likely attend, The Oklahoman reported from its Washington bureau.
…
Keating’s spokesman, Dan Mahoney, said Keating has not made a decision about entering the presidential race, which on the Republican side could include U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas, Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

“He feels like there would potentially be a place for his experience and his philosophies” in the race, Mahoney said, adding that Keating knows a decision is necessary soon so that fundraising could begin.

Keating serviced two terms as Oklahoma’s governor. Since his term ended in 2003, he has been president and chief executive officer of the Washington-based American Council of Life Insurers.

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