Former RNC Chairman To Lead Virginia GOP

Still smarting from the losses of the past two Novembers, state Republicans gathered Saturday to elect a new chairman. Their choice is a household name for political junkies.

Ed Gillespie, formerly the chairman of the Republican National Committee, will now steer the ship for the Virginia GOP. His election in Hot Springs, at the 23rd Annual Donald W. Huffman Advance, comes less than a month after Sen. George Allen-once considered a shoe-in for reelection-lost a brutal battle with Sen-elect James Webb (D).

One year earlier, Gov. Tim Kaine (D) won Virginia by demolishing his opponent, Jerry Kilgore (R), in Northern Virginia. Webb's victory also can be attributed to Northern Virginia, where the political newcomer won Fairfax County by about 60,000 votes.

Gillespie's challenge, according to local Republicans, will be to try and find a way to stem the Democratic tide in Northern Virginia. Winning those votes will require common-sense approach to solving transportation issues, something that state Sen. H. Russell Potts Jr. (R-27) said hasn't been done. And, Potts said, Republicans have paid for there choices.

"If you had told me five years ago that Loudoun County would vote Democratic in a national senate race, I'd have looked at you and said 'You're crazy," said Potts.

Potts says Kate Obenshain Griffin, who resigned the chairmanship after Allen's loss, is partly to blame for the GOP's statewide woes.

"I'm delighted, obviously, that Kate Griffin is gone," Potts said. "She did more harm to the Republican Party in the short time she served in history of the party than good. We've never been as divided or angry. Now, we're not defined by things we're for but instead we're defined by the things we are against."

The Loudoun County Republican Committee could accurately be described as divided. The 10th District Republican Committee--formed to guide efforts for Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA-10)--saw long-time Chairman Jim Rich challenged from the right wing of the party.

"Been there done that," said Del. Joe T. May (R-33), who, like Potts, survived a primary challenge in recent years from the right-of-center portion of the party. "I don't think Ed's arrival will grant us immunity from that. But Ed brings a broader picture of Northern Virginia. Seemingly Northern Virginia has drifted apart from the balance of Virginia politically."

May said Gillespie could use his position, which is one that communicates with all elected Republican officials in Virginia, to work toward solutions on issues like transportation.

Rich, who attended the Advance, said he is optimistic about a Gillespie-led party. He said Gillespie invoked the "80-percent rule" when addressing the Virginia GOP this weekend.

"You can't expect people to agree 100 percent of the time," Rich said. "Inclusiveness. This is the whole Ronald Reagan approach. It's been lacking over the last several years. He wants to emphasize what we agree on, not what we disagree on. Some pockets [of the state GOP] are working pretty smoothly. But some areas of the commonwealth need to work more together. Gillespie will bring that type of unifying force."

Rich said one of the things Gillespie wants to do is get the state legislature to sit down together and work out a good plan on transportation.

Potts said that to accomplish that Gillespie would have to "embrace the Republican senate that is of the moderate, responsible philosophy."

"We gave them the majority; it wasn't the far right wing," Potts said. "We did it by being centrist and being middle-of-the-road. He needs to advocate for our infrastructure. It has went too far. To sign these no tax pledges, to say I don't care about how many people move into Loudoun County, and to say you don't care about traffic and that you're not going to raise taxes. They are in denial."

Gillespie, who lives in Northern Virginia, was chosen by President George W. Bush to lead the RNC. Gillespie held the position from July 2003 to January 2005. In 2000, Gillespie served as senior communications advisor for Bush's presidential committee.

According to the Associated Press, Gillespie urged various factions of the state GOP to reconcile their differences.

"There's a tendency, I think, in times of challenge like these to ... hunker down, to look back, to turn inward," Gillespie said according to the AP. "This is a time to orient ourselves outward, to involve new people and to look forward."