Former RNC head Gillespie to replace Bartlett.

Ed Gillespie, the current chairman of the Virginia Republican Party, will step down from his position as the state’s party head in order to replace Dan Bartlett as counselor to President Bush. According to the Times-Dispacth, Gillespie “was reluctant to leave…but he answered the president’s pleadings.” Gillespie, a member of the inner circle of 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign, played a a key role for the White House in shepherding Supreme Court justices Samuel Alito and John Roberts through the Senate.