One of the nation's top political analysts, Stuart Rothenberg, dissects politics at the congressional and statewide levels.

Stuart Rothenberg: The White House shuffles the deck again at the RNC

By Stuart Rothenberg

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- In a move that was both under-reported and, apparently, under-appreciated, former Montana Governor Marc Racicot, who has been selected by President George W. Bush to become the new chairman of the Republican National Committee, has not retained four senior staffers with strong ties to outgoing RNC chairman Jim Gilmore.

"It's a purge," says one Republican insider who has been watching Republican National Committee politics for years.

Political Director Bryan Slater, Member Relations Director Mary Shea, Director of Government Relations Mike McSherry and Communications Director Mark Miner were all let go by Racicot just prior to his announcement of a new RNC transition team. Racicot, will be formally selected as party chairman at the committee's winter meeting in January.

Slater was Gilmore's campaign manager in his 1997 Virginia race for governor, and he served in the governor's administration in Richmond. McSherry, who worked at the Republican Governors Association when Gilmore chaired the organization, also worked in Gilmore's campaign and in state government. Miner was press secretary in Gilmore's gubernatorial campaign.

Bush loyalist Jack Oliver remains as Republican National Committee deputy chairman, while Bush presidential campaign strategist Matt Dowd continues in his role as RNC pollster and party strategist.

Mindy Tucker, who was press secretary for Bush/Cheney 2000 and often spoke for the campaign during the critical re-count phase, moves over to the RNC as communications director. She has been in the same position at the Department of Justice.

Taken together, all of these steps offer a clear message: the White House has now taken control of the RNC.

Like Gilmore, Racicot served as governor. But that's where the similarities end. While Gilmore fashions himself a political strategist and has a coterie of political operatives hovering around him, Racicot doesn't. Instead, the former Montana governor depends on former Bush operatives and allies of White House strategist Karl Rove to staff most of the senior positions of the party's national committee.

Some White House insiders questioned Gilmore's spending decisions at the committee, including expenditures in the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races. The personnel changes assure that while Rove will not physically be at the RNC, he'll call the shots through senior staffers who have proven their loyalty to George W. Bush.

Racicot's selection and the ensuing personnel changes reflect fundamental differences in the way the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee currently operate.

The first job of the RNC is to reelect George W. Bush, and that's why the president's top political strategists dictate what goes on at their national committee, including who will chair the committee. But since the Democrats don't have a single party leader (their congressional leaders are the closest they have), they need an independent DNC that will take the fight to the president, and will operate even-handedly as the party prepares to select its presidential nominee for 2004.

Earlier this year, the DNC, and its energetic chairman Terry McAuliffe, decided to change its primary/caucus schedule for 2004. McAuliffe notified potential presidential hopefuls of the changes, but he did not need all of them to approve of the changes. Any comparable changes on the Republican side would come from the White House, via the RNC. Now, there is no doubt who is running the Republican committee.