Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie visited Raleigh on Monday in a hastily prepared, but well-attended luncheon for the state GOP faithful.

Gillespie told Republican activists that he considered North Carolina “a very important state in 2004,” not only for the re-election of President Bush, but to increase the GOP majority in the U.S. Senate and to replace Gov. Mike Easley.

“The Republican Party is the party of freedom, opportunity, lower taxes, and strong national security, and our policies are working,” Gillespie said.

The chairman’s speech emphasized distinctions between Bush’s agenda and those of Democratic presidential candidates, primarily Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina. Gillespie dispensed heavy criticism to Democrats for the tone of their campaigns, mostly because of their characterizations of the president. He especially objected to Kerry’s comparison of Bush to Saddam Hussein, and that Rev. Al Sharpton likened the president to a gang leader.

“Last Thursday, Sen. John Edwards asserted that President Bush couldn’t ‘walk and chew gum at the same time.’ This is from the ‘positive candidate,’” Gillespie said, referring to Edwards’s reputation in the media for running a positive campaign.

While Gillespie bristled at Democrats’ barbs toward the president, he did not address recent criticism from conservatives in the Republican Party, who have complained about dramatically increased government spending and growing deficits on Bush’s watch. Gillespie did not take questions after his speech, but met with local media in the afternoon and appeared on at least two radio talk shows.

Gillespie also assailed his counterpart in the Democratic Party, Terry McAuliffe, for his “demonstrably false and malicious” charges that Bush was “AWOL” while serving in the National Guard.

“Terry McAuliffe has become the John Wilkes Booth of character assassination,” Gillespie said.

Meanwhile, Gillespie played up the president’s record, which he credited for recent economic growth.

“[Democrats’] promise to raise taxes would only reverse the economic gains we’re experiencing now,” Gillespie said. “That’s why Republicans are seeking ways to make President Bush’s tax cuts permanent.”

He said the “class warfare” campaign playbook of the Democratic candidates — especially that of Edwards — was “tired.”

Gillespie also targeted Easley, whom he said “takes the wrong approach to economic growth, raising taxes on North Carolinians….” He promised “a better way” from the GOP, and said the party would “have a strong challenger to make our case” in November.

Paul Chesser is associate editor of Carolina Journal. Contact him at [email protected].