Posted on 06/16/2003 4:55:41 PM PDT by Sub-Driver
Racicot to Head Bush - Cheney Campaign By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 6:54 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Marc Racicot is leaving the helm of the Republican National Committee to lead President Bush's re-election effort, and Ed Gillespie, a Washington lobbyist and GOP strategist, will become chairman of the political organization.
Racicot, the former Montana governor and Bush's measured voice during the Florida recount of the 2000 election, will serve as chairman of the Bush-Cheney campaign. He told RNC members of his decision Monday.
Gillespie will assume the RNC chairmanship, a move that must be confirmed by the RNC at its summer meeting next month.
``The American people have come to know George Bush as a person and a leader, and we'll make that case -- that he has been effective and honest and a very important force in a very troubled world,'' Racicot told The Associated Press during an interview Friday at the RNC's Capitol Hill headquarters.
Gillespie, 41, was a general strategist for Elizabeth Dole's successful Senate campaign in 2002 and served as a senior communications adviser to the Bush-Cheney campaign in 2000 -- a major step up from his first GOP job in which he worked the party's phone banks. He was a communications director for the RNC in the 1990s and worked for former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas.
Gillespie is a partner in the Quinn, Gillespie & Associates firm, which handles lobbying, strategy and public affairs work. He will forgo his salary but keep his ownership stake, although he will not lobby nor discuss policy with the firm's clients, Republican officials said.
Racicot came under criticism when he was named RNC chairman in December 2001 because he would not agree to stop doing business with his law firm, Bracewell & Patterson. He promised to be cautious about doing any work that could put the White House or the RNC in an awkward situation.
During Racicot's tenure, Republicans reclaimed control of the Senate in the 2002 midterm elections and improved their numbers in the House, bucking historical trends that typically work against the party occupying the White House.
``The opposition, even now, predominantly is just against everything,'' the 54-year-old Racicot said. ``They're not for very many things, and that I think hurt them in their prospects for holding on to the Senate and regaining control of the House of Representatives in 2002.''
Terry McAuliffe, the Democratic National Committee chairman, called Racicot a ``formidable and fun adversary.''
``He's done a great job despite being wrong on just about every issue,'' McAuliffe said.
Racicot and Bush became friends and political allies after Bush was elected governor of Texas in 1994; Racicot had won the Montana statehouse two years earlier. During the disputed election aftermath, Racicot held news conferences, appeared on Sunday news shows and sat for more than 100 interviews, arguing Bush's case.
Also Monday, the RNC named Maria Cino to be its deputy chairman, replacing Jack Oliver, who went to the Bush-Cheney campaign last month, and chose Christine Iverson as press secretary.
Cino was national political director in the early stages of Bush's 2000 presidential campaign. Iverson was spokeswoman for Republican Rep. John Thune, who failed to unseat Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson in last year's Senate race in South Dakota.
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Associated Press Writer Will Lester contributed to this report.
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