Republicans scale back convention due to Hurricane Gustav
The event will be more subdued and less political. It's not even clear when John McCain will arrive.
ST. PAUL, MINN. — Republicans scrambled Sunday to reshape their national convention to a more austere and less political event as Hurricane Gustav upended their plans to showcase John McCain and his new running mate, and to take apart Barack Obama in a nationally televised extravaganza.
After the Democratic nominee's acceptance speech in Denver broke television records, McCain had hoped his own party's four-day gathering in St. Paul would draw attention to his agenda. He had sought to distance himself from the unpopular Republican president, buttress his image as a reform-minded maverick and connect with economically stressed Americans.
The cancellation of President Bush's scheduled appearance today helped the Arizona senator on the first count. (The Bush administration's handling of Hurricane Katrina three years ago badly damaged the Republican Party.)
But Gustav threatened to capsize the rest of McCain's plans -- along with months of careful political strategizing -- by turning attention away from the convention to the Gulf Coast's imperiled residents.
Convention planners shifted the tone and focus of the week from Republican revelry and attacks on Democrats to a more uplifting, nonpartisan message.
Parties were abruptly canceled Sunday or turned into fundraisers for hurricane relief. Speeches were scrapped or rewritten, and today's opening program was shrunk to a bare minimum. Even McCain's scheduled arrival Wednesday was in doubt.
On Sunday, McCain said it was necessary to "take off our Republican hats and put on our American hats."
Aides to McCain said there were no plans whatsoever to speak of Obama from the convention stage, save for a mild contrast in McCain's Thursday night acceptance speech, though that could change along with circumstances outside the hall.
"Each day, we're going to make a call as we go based on the conditions on the ground," said Charles Black, a senior advisor to McCain.
Four years ago, the Democrats' nominee, Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry, adopted the same speak-no-ill strategy at his party's national convention, much to his subsequent regret. By contrast, one speaker after another took turns last week blasting McCain at the Democrats' gathering, and Obama closed out the event with a sharp attack on his Republican opponent in a speech seen by more than 38 million Americans.
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