ST. PAUL, MINN. — The marquee act for opening night just canceled, but some Republicans couldn't be happier.
All year, Republican strategists have worried about showcasing President Bush at the Republican National Convention when his standing with the public lies at a near-record low.
So, when Bush canceled his planned appearance at tonight's opening session to focus on preparations for Hurricane Gustav, there were more than a few sighs of relief.
"It's a good thing," said former Rep. Dick Zimmer, the Republican candidate for Senate in New Jersey, where Bush is not especially popular. "The first thing I was asked when I won the primary was whether I planned to ask President Bush to come to New Jersey to campaign for me. The answer was no."
Dan Schnur, a former aide to John McCain, agreed. If Bush's speech had been today's main event as originally planned, he said, then media coverage of the convention might have turned into "one long Bush vs. McCain soap opera" focusing on tension between the two.
Their reactions reflected the party's conflicting views of Bush, who led them to victory in 2000 and 2004 only to see his popularity collapse in his second term.
Even before Hurricane Gustav forced Bush's decision Sunday, some Republicans said the president could help his party best by staying home this week.
"President Bush is history, and what we're trying to do is build a party and win an election based on what we're going to do in the future," said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), who for months has been urging the president to stay away.
To be sure, Bush remains popular among the conservative activists who are well-represented among GOP convention delegates. Many were crestfallen that they wouldn't see the president in person.
"There's disappointment," said Philip Bryan, a spokesman for the Alabama delegation. "But most people understand that the hardship people in the Gulf Coast area are going through far outweighs the excitement of seeing President Bush and Vice President Cheney."
McCain aides have seen the convention not as a chance to show how close Bush and McCain are (they're not), but as an opportunity to tell voters how their candidate's brand of conservative government would differ from the president's.
McCain and Bush have had a prickly relationship ever since they collided in a series of bitter Republican presidential primaries in 2000. They have appeared on camera together only twice during this campaign, and as far as can be determined they have not spoken since their last meeting, at a Phoenix fundraiser in May.
