Republican Frank Keating, the former two-term governor of Oklahoma and now president of the American Council of Life Insurers, has cultivated a bipartisan image in Washington. But the heat of the presidential campaign may have gotten to him. Keating recently made provocative comments on Dennis Miller's radio show about Barack Obama's past.

Keating, a co-chair of John McCain's presidential campaign, suggested Obama  should be more forthcoming about his past drug use. "He ought to admit, 'You know, I've got to be honest with you. I was a guy of the street. I was way to the left. I used cocaine. I voted liberally, but I'm back at the center,'" Keating said. The Huffington Post has the audio here.

With Obama ahead in the polls and the Democrats likely to expand their margins in the House and Senate, the question is: Will Democrats remember what Keating said? Could there be payback?

In a statement to National Journal, Keating responded: "Since joining ACLI in 2003 I've worked hard to position ACLI as a bipartisan organization. My surrogate work in the McCain campaign is unrelated to the life insurance industry business. It should serve neither to benefit nor detract from ACLI's important work on retirement and financial security issues."

                                                                              -- Bara Vaida/ photo: Rick Bloom