Gilmore resigning as GOP national chairman, sources say

AP Special CorrespondentWASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican National Chairman Jim Gilmore has decided to resign after less than a year in his post, GOP sources said Friday.

These sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Gilmore was expected to inform his staff later in the day.

His departure comes less than a month after the party suffered the loss of two governorships -- in New Jersey and Gilmore's own Virginia -- in this month's off-year elections.

Gilmore's term as Virginia governor expires early next year, and neither he nor the white House had indicated anything other than that he would stay to guide the party into the critical 2002 elections. Control of both houses of Congress will be at stake in next fall's balloting, as well as three dozen statehouses.

One senior Republican source said Gilmore's departure would become effective in mid-January.

Gilmore was tapped by President Bush to take the reins as party head last year, but his tenure has been marked by tension at the Republican National Committee between political aides and those installed my the White House.

Gilmore's term as Virginia governor expires early next year, and neither he nor the white House had indicated anything other than that he would stay to guide the party into the critical 2002 elections. Control of both houses of Congress will be at stake in next fall's balloting, as well as three dozen statehouses.

One senior Republican source said Gilmore's departure would become effective in mid-January.

Gilmore was tapped by President Bush to take the reins as party head last year, but his tenure has been marked by tension at the Republican National Committee between political aides and those installed my the White House. Gilmore has said the biggest challenge in the 2002 elections could be Democrats running what they call "centrist" campaigns that tend to blur differences with Republicans. The winners for governor in New Jersey and Virginia have been described as centrist Democrats.

"We have to guard against the day that all the Democratic candidates are running as conservative Republicans," Gilmore said.