Jack Kemp, former NFL quarterback and long-time political visionary, has died of cancer. He was a thoroughly unconventional, sometimes wacky, politician, and an indomitable public figure. He'll be missed.
UPDATE: Bill Bennett remembers his friend and colleague:
Republican Analyst Bill Bennett told CNN Sunday that with the death of former GOP vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp, "we lost part of our heart today."In 1993, the two men co-founded conservative think tank Empower America.
"Well, we lost part of our heart today, John, one of our great voices, one of our lions," he told CNN's John King on State of the Union. "You know, there's a lot of talk, these days, about who will be the next Ronald Reagan. A few of us were thinking, this morning, who will be the next Jack Kemp?"
Bennett praised Kemp's efforts to increase the diversity of the GOP and reach out to urban areas and minority voters.
"He led this party into the inner city and said freedom is for everybody; opportunity is for everybody; enterprise is for everybody," he said.