Is Ed Gillespie turning Bob McDonnell against Gov. Palin?

Earlier today, Politico published a story about the lack of communication between the Bob McDonnell campaign and Governor Palin's office about her making a campaign appearance on his behalf in the Virginia gubernatorial election. "The governor offered her assistance, the ball is in their court," Meg Stapleton is quoted as saying. So what gives?

I spoke to one source with direct access to both the campaign staff and the candidate himself who said they've noticed a remarkable change in McDonnell's attitude towards Palin since the RNC selected Washington insider Ed Gillespie to head his campaign:

I talked to Bob personally earlier in the summer about the idea of bringing Palin in. He was stoked about having her campaign with him. If you check out Bob's positions on the issues, you'd swear you were reading Palin's positions--they are that close on the issues. Bob knows the Guv--he was onstage with her at her VA rallies last fall and traveled with her, too. Then the RNC brought in Ed Gillespie to run the campaign - and the McDonnell folks did a 180 on Palin.

You might remember Gillespie as the man who accused Gov. Palin of lying when she made her famous "death panel" statement in August. He's also the man who described Mitt Romney as "thoughtful", "principled" and "a leader" after a recent fundraiser in Virginia:

Ed Gillespie, the former Republican National Committee chairman, saw Romney speak earlier this month at a Virginia GOP fundraiser and came away impressed. "You could have heard a pin drop," said Gillespie. "And his critique of President Obama was very thoughtful and principled. It was not harsh." At a time when Republicans are seeking the right balance in taking on the popular president, Romney's approach is effective, Gillespie said. "Part of being a leader in the party is showing people how to talk about these issues, how to effectively challenge the other side," he said.

Apparently this same Gillespie thinks it's smart politics to separate McDonnell from his conservative base in an election that will be won or lost on who gets most of their core supporters to turn out on election day. How else to explain a sign like this:



It seems an open invitation to the Deeds campaign to paint McDonnell as a northerner who has turned his back on the rural conservative southern part of the state - the part that usually overwhelmingly backs Republican candidates. Perhaps Gillespie thinks he can win without this conservative base. Then again, experience from 2008 shows that might not be such a bright idea. Can McDonnell really afford to turn away the one politician in the GOP who is guaranteed to help him close his campaign with a bang? Or would he perhaps rather close it out with a whimper:

The Associated Press reported today that former Massachusetts governor and 2008 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney stood in front of Haddonfield Borough Hall with gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie and told a crowd of about 50 people that “New Jersey has tried liberal and it's time for the state to have a chance to try conservative.”

A crowd of fifty? Or a crowd of twenty thousand? The choice is McDonnell's - if he's still allowed to make his own decisions, that is.