By MIKE ALLEN | 8/31/08 4:42 PM EST
ST. PAUL, Minn. — John McCain told reporters via satellite Sunday that most opening day activities of the Republican National Convention will be suspended because of the threat from Hurricane Gustav.
“Of course, this is a time when we have to do away with our party politics, and we have to act as Americans,” he told a convention news conference from St. Louis. “We’re going to suspend most of our activities tomorrow.”
Four days of festivities were to open Monday, but now a party business session is all that is scheduled.
President Bush, first lady Laura Bush, Vice President Cheney and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger all canceled Monday appearances. Bush is likely to address the nation, instead, if killer Gustav does not veer off its path toward the Gulf Coast.
Convention planners said McCain hopes to show up later in the week to accept his party’s nomination, but there was no guarantee of it, and he is not required to be in the hall for the nomination to be official.
Officials said they will execute “certain basic minimum requirements” of party rules, including receiving the report of the credentials committee, adopting rules and the party platform and electing officials of the convention.
The convention will be called to order at the scheduled opening of 3 p.m. local time and last until about 5 or 5:30 p.m. before adjourning.
“What will be missing will be any kind of political rhetoric,” McCain campaign manager Rick Davis said.
Davis said the convention will be decided day to day, with delegates notified by e-mail and text message. Davis said the convention hopes to conduct a roll call, but doesn’t know when that will be.
“We will try to constitute as much of a program as events allow us to,” Davis said. “Everything will be considered optional after the 5:30 session tomorrow.”
McCain said he “can hardly wait” to get to St. Paul. “I hope and pray we’ll be able to resume some of our normal operations as quickly as possible,” he said. “But some of that is, frankly, in the hands of God.”
During the week, the delegates will work to raise money for charities that operate in the Gulf Coast region, Davis said.
The many corporations that plan parties and celebrations in conjunction with the convention will be contacted and asked “to please be respectful of the situation that exists in the Gulf,” and to use the events “as part of the extended fundraising network that we hold to establish for the Gulf.”
Asked by Jeff Greenfield of CBS News if the campaign planned any joint charity effort with the Obama campaign, Davis said: “We haven’t had any contact with the Obama campaign. I wouldn’t rule something like that out.”
The McCain campaign made a plane available to Gulf Coast delegates to return home. About a dozen from the Louisiana delegate made the trip and “will be getting family members and returning,” Davis said.
McCain said the U.S. must prepare for “a great national challenge, and the possibility of a great natural disaster.”
The senator added that it’s “time to open our hearts, our efforts, our wallets, our concern, our care for those American citizens who are now under the shadow and the probability of a natural disaster.”
Davis said he hopes all the scheduled speakers will still come: “We do expect all the speakers to speak at some point. … We can’t promise them when or if.”
“We hoped that we could have a more traditional convention,” Davis said. “But, as the senator indicated, events have conspired to do otherwise.”
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/13031.html 2008-09-01
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