By Dan McCue

A McCain presidency would strengthen the economy, bolster small business and create jobs, according to a prominent Republican who was the first elected official to publicly predict George W. Bush would win the White House in 2000.

Former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating told SCBIZ that McCain, who has included Charleston among the handful of stops on a day-long tour Thursday to formally announce his candidacy for president, will usher in a return of the supply side economics that lead to the prosperity of the 1990s.

Further, he said, he believes McCain will create a tax framework that rewards those who will put their gains back into growing their businesses and creating jobs, rather than giving further tax breaks to what he described as “the investors class in America that can afford to live on its dividends and capital gains.”

“To cross the river and embrace John McCain may well, to some of my old Bush friends, seem like a significant step to the right on my part, but I can honestly say I’ve discovered we’re very much of like mind about a number of social and economic issues,” Keating said.

“I mean, think of how much healthier the national economy would be if Congress as a whole had followed McCain’s lead on votes he cast to block wasteful spending and provide more equitable tax relief to all Americans,” he added.

Keating, only the second governor in Oklahoma history to be elected to two consecutive terms and the first republican to do it, was the first sitting governor to endorse George W. Bush’s candidacy in 2000, and was among the first to declare Bush the best candidate “because he can win.”

His prescience proved bittersweet however, because the position he desired in the Bush Administration, U.S. Attorney General, went to former Sen. John Ashcroft instead.

“I was told I made the short list of potential AGs, but after that I decided it was time to make some money to secure my family’s economic future and time to get to know my grandchildren a little better,” he said.

Today, Keating is president and CEO of the American Council of Life Insurers, the trade association for the life insurance industry.

Given his staunch support of McCain, it was surprising to learn that the two men had never met before Martin Luther King weekend this year, when the Arizona senator asked Keating to appear at several events with him in South Carolina.

Keating formally endorsed McCain’s bid, setting aside rumors of his own potential candidacy for president, during an appearance in Spartanburg in February.

“I really didn’t know McCain until he called and asked me to come to South Carolina with him, but in the two days I spent with him I found him to be a very decent and very humble man who was willing and eager to hear what other people had to say about the issues, even if they differed with him,” Keating said.

“Frankly , I came in that short time to see him as the most ‘Lincolnesque’ of the candidates who are out there, and came to see him as someone who really  thinks more like a governor than a legislator, in that he’s always after solutions and resolution of issues,” he continued. “Maybe part of that is being an older candidate who’s not worried about what office he might hold years from now and wants to strike quickly with the reforms he has in mind.”

On economic issues, Keating was most effusive about McCain’s stance on the 2003 tax cut bill, a bill he said would reduce the income tax rate on the “country club set” to zero, while leaving the middle class in the 35% tax bracket.

“I’m an old supply-sider, and I believe in cutting taxes to increase economic activity and that eventually, if you do that, you’ll catch up on the revenue side,” Keating said. “I think John McCain believes that too, and believes that if you are going to cut taxes, do so for those who are truly going to put their surpluses into growing their businesses.

“To me, that was an example of the healthy streak of populism I see in John McCain, and I think going forward, he’ll apply that philosophy to stoke the nation’s economic engine, which will help us both confront Al Qaeda while encouraging entrepreneurship,” he said.

Keating said during his recent discussion with the candidate, McCain has become more focused on finding solutions to the nation’s healthcare woes, and currently formulating an agenda intended to lower healthcare costs for all Americans.

“Again that’s a way to fix a system that will help the small businesses that create the majority of the new jobs in this nation,” he said.

Keating admitted McCain’s support of the Bush administration’s troop surge in Iraq is a risky position to take, acknowledging that “I don’t think it’s helpful to appear to be George W. Bush’s third term.”

But, he said, “I think the genius of McCain is that he’s not afraid to do what’s right, even if it has tempered his popularity,” Keating said. “I was one of those who felt we shouldn’t go into Iraq unless we could definitely prove there was a direct link to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but I think, and I believe John McCain feels the same way, that you have to be a realist: We’re there now and we have to do everything we can to prevent Iraq from becoming a cauldron of hate.”

On Thursday, McCain will restart his campaign in New Hampshire, and then appear in Charleston, at the S.C. Aquarium, at 6 p.m. From there he will travel to Iowa, Nevada and finally his home state of Arizona.

Keating said McCain’s decision to include Charleston in his announcement schedule on Thursday is a sign of how pivotal the Arizonan thinks South Carolina will be to his chances.

“South Carolina and Oklahoma are roughly equal in terms of the size of their populations, and let me tell you, when I was governor I would have given a lot to have my state be the site of a presidential announcement,” he said. “It’s a feather in the cap for Charleston and a strong acknowledgement of South Carolina’s importance in the national scheme of things.”