Governor says Tulsa `very dumb'
By BRIAN FORD World Capitol Bureau

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Tulsa was "very dumb" not to have shown more support for Cathy Keating in Tuesday's 1st District GOP primary, Gov. Frank Keating said Friday.

"I am just saying my hometown, to do this, was very dumb," the governor said. "They did it and they will have to live with it."

Speaking "for myself and not Cathy," Keating said, "sometimes we step on our tie." He said that with a diminished congressional delegation after next year, "you want to have people who will be instant celebrities, instant power centers."

"We had an opportunity to send a highly gifted woman conservative who would have been an instant star, much in the vein of J.C. Watts as the only African American in the Republican delegation, and we didn't do it," Keating explained.

"For us, we need a J.C. Watts and quite truthfully we need a gifted and talented woman, someone who will stand out from the pack, and we will not have that," Keating said. "I think that's most regrettable for the sake of conservative politics."

"I am saying that in my judgment to turn down an opportunity to have an instant effective congressperson who is universally known in Washington is an unfortunate mistake," he said.

Keating said the Republican Party "should speak as one voice and support John Sullivan" but added that he supported his wife "with more enthusiasm."

"Cathy is a person who is wonderful and wise and knew that in order to come from behind, (she) would have to be aggressive and perhaps even negative," Keating said. "She is not that kind of person, and she did not want to have that kind of campaign."

Speaking as a "visigoth" (one of the barbarian tribes that invaded the Roman Empire during its downfall), Keating said he would have been tempted to "charge on" in the campaign.

He said his wife's decision to drop out of the race "is very difficult for her -- it's not much of a Christmas present. But Cathy is a tremendously strong and gifted person."

He said the final decision for her to drop out was made Friday afternoon.

The notice of her withdrawal was delivered to the State Election Board by John Cox, a spokesman for the governor.

Election Board Secretary Mike Clingman said the board would return her $7,500 campaign filing fee.

Brian Ford, World Capitol Bureau reporter, can be reached at (405) 528-2465 or via e-mail at brian.ford@tulsaworld.com.