Pat Dollard | Young Americans

August 31, 2008

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - John McCain says Republicans will alter the national convention that was to be a four-day celebration of his presidential nomination because of the seriousness of Hurricane Gustav as it churns toward the Gulf Coast. President Bush, Vice President Cheney and prominent GOP governors decided to skip the gathering altogether.

“I pledge that tomorrow night and if necessary throughout our convention, we will act as Americans and not as Republicans because America needs us now,” McCain said Sunday.

McCain, his wife Cindy, and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, toured the emergency management center in Mississippi, a state that could be hit hard by the approaching hurricane.

“No matter what we are—Republican or Democratic—America needs us to do what all Americans have always done in times of disaster and challenge,” McCain told reporters.

Party leaders were considering shortening the big four-day event as Gustav approached the Gulf Coast with potentially deadly strength.

The McCain campaign was chartering a DC-9 jetliner from St. Paul for any delegates from Louisiana and Mississippi who want to return home.

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WASHINGTON, Aug. 31, 2008 (Reuters) — President George W. Bush said on Sunday he will travel to Texas on Monday to visit an operations center that is coordinating Hurricane Gustav’s emergency response and warned that the storm was “dangerous.”

Bush said there was a “serious risk of significant flooding” from Hurricane Gustav and advised residents to listen to local and officials instructions. He said he hoped to visit Louisiana “as soon as conditions permit.”

Bush spoke with reporters after a briefing on the storm at Federal Emergency Management headquarters.