William Bennett Says He Won’t Run for President
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WASHINGTON — William J. Bennett, a former education secretary and drug policy director and the author of the best-seller “The Book of Virtues,” said Wednesday that he would not seek the 1996 Republican presidential nomination.
After the success of his book, morality tales he compiled to counter what he contends is a decline of values in America, Bennett had been courted by religious conservatives and others to enter what is likely to be a crowded GOP field.
Because of that interest, he had promised to spend the summer reconsidering earlier statements that he would not run. Bennett talked during the past several weeks with party strategists searching for a way to run an unconventional campaign. He has made no secret of his distaste for the heavy travel and fund raising required of presidential candidates.
But in a statement he said he had concluded “now is not the right time for me to seek the presidency.”
Bennett said he planned to be an active force in this year’s congressional elections and the 1996 national campaign.
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