WASHINGTON, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Ending several weeks of speculation about his future, Virginia Jim Gilmore will be stepping down as chairman of the Republican National Committee at the group's January meeting in Austin, Texas.
In a statement released Friday, Gilmore said the demands the post places on his family are something he is no longer willing to bear and that he would be stepping down for their sake.
"The requirements that I be a fulltime chairman of the Republican National Committee -- making appearances across the country in Detroit, Dallas, or Denver, neither I nor my family can see any light at the end of the tunnel," Gilmore said.
The White House attempted to downplay speculation that Gilmore was pushed out. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said at Friday's news briefing that President Bush had not asked Gilmore to step down.
Fleischer said Bush "understood the governor's reasons and was disappointed to hear that he was leaving because he thinks he's done a very good job at the Republican National Committee."
The resignation is a surprising reversal by Gilmore who, earlier in the week, announced his intention "to serve out" his term as chairman.
Plucked from relative obscurity by Bush, the former Henrico County, Va., commonwealth's attorney was seen by many observers as a solid and reliable choice for party leader.
His selection was especially pleasing to party conservatives, who counted Gilmore among their number. Possessed of a strong record of support for law enforcement and a commitment to upholding the party position on abortion, social conservatives welcomed his selection.
Economic conservatives were also pleased with the message his choice appeared to send, as Gilmore had staged a stunning come-from-behind victory in Virginia's 1997 gubernatorial campaign principally on the issue of abolishing the state's dread personal property tax on automobiles.
Party regulars of all ideological stripes called Gilmore a skillful political tactician who understood the dynamics of campaigns.
Early on in his term as governor, Virginia Republicans consolidated their hold on the state legislature, in part through an aggressive effort by Gilmore to entice Democrat legislators in Republican-leaning districts to join his administration, allowing the GOP to pick up the seats in ensuing special elections.
Shortly after taking office, however, rumors began to circulate in Washington that White House political operatives were unhappy with Gilmore's management of the committee. Jack Oliver, a former Bush campaign finance official, was brought in to oversee day-to-day committee management in what some called a stopgap measure. Several sources say that posting was made over the objections of Gilmore and several senior advisers.
Several consultants under contract to the committee have complained about disorganization in the political and communications divisions, spreading allegations of backbiting among mid-level staffers that impeded committee effectiveness.
Over his brief tenure, the tension between the White House and the RNC grew to a point where the relationship was, according to some, dysfunctional.
A strong party chairman, as the Democrat now have in Terry McAuliffe and as the Republicans had in Haley Barbour during the first part of the Clinton years, is welcome when the opposition party controls the White House.
When the party becomes "the party of the president," the relationship changes, with the chairman expected to be deferential to the administration in general and the White House in particular.
One GOP consultant summed up the dispute saying, "Gilmore wanted to be Haley Barbour. The White House wanted him to be (Reagan-era GOP chairman) Frank Fahrenkopf."
The last straw, say Republican politicos, was the defeat of the GOP candidates for governor of New Jersey and Gilmore's home state of Virginia, leaving the party to point to the pick up of 12 seats in the Virginia Assembly, the election of the majority-making seat on the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court and the fluke victory of newly minted Republican Michael Bloomberg as mayor of New York in the post-election spin as to why it was not a bad election for the Republicans.
No replacement has been named. Early speculation has former Montana Gov. Marc Racicot, senior presidential adviser Karl Rove, and Ohio state GOP Chairman Bob Bennett as some of the candidates to step in for Gilmore.
