McCain Orders Cancellation Of All But Essential Opening-Day Activities For RNC Due To Hurricane Gustav
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - John McCain tore up the script for his Republican National Convention on Sunday, ordering the cancellation of all but essential opening-day activities as Hurricane Gustav churned toward New Orleans.
“This is a time when we have to do away with our party politics and we have to act as Americans,” he said as fellow Republicans converged on their convention city to nominate him for the White House.
President Bush and Vice President Cheney scrapped plans to address the convention on Monday, and McCain’s campaign chartered a jet to fly delegates back to their hurricane-threatened states along the Gulf Coast.
The hasty reordering of an event months in the making underscored not only the risk posed by Gustav, but also an intense desire by McCain and Republicans to avoid the political damage that Bush suffered from his widely criticized response to Hurricane Katrina three years ago.
The formal business of the convention includes nominating McCain for president and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate on Wednesday. McCain’s acceptance speech, set for prime time on Thursday evening, is among the most critical events of the campaign for his chances of winning the White House.
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