UNITED STATES:REPUBLICANS MEETING in St Paul have turned the first day of their national convention into a fundraiser for victims of Hurricane Gustav, as party officials waited to decide how the storm would impact on the rest of the week's events, writes Denis Stauntonin St Paul
Senior Republicans remain confident that John McCain will accept his party's presidential nomination in St Paul on Thursday, but party chairman Mike Duncan said the convention schedule would be decided on a day-by-day basis.
"We don't know yet the impact of this storm," he said. "We'll conduct our convention depending on what happens."
The convention opened yesterday with two hours of procedural business, followed by brief appeals by first lady Laura Bush and Mr McCain's wife, Cindy, for delegates to support disaster relief efforts on the Gulf coast.
Mr McCain visited a disaster relief centre in Ohio yesterday, helping to pack cleaning supplies and other items into plastic buckets that will be sent to storm-hit communities. The Republican candidate, who has been a harsh critic of the Bush administration's response to Hurricane Katrina three years ago, said that co-ordination between federal, state and local officials was better this time, although there were still problems.
"There's still, I think, not as much communications equipment as we want. There's still not enough search-and-rescue capabilities, although they're trying to fix that. It's not perfect, but I think that it's dramatically different than it was in response to Katrina," he said.
Barack Obama yesterday cut short a visit to Detroit to return to Chicago, where he was monitoring the progress of Hurricane Gustav. The Democratic presidential candidate has sent a mass e-mail appeal to supporters, urging them to contribute to groups providing relief for people who have been displaced by the storm.
"Please give whatever you can afford, even $10, to make sure the American Red Cross has the resources to help those in the path of this storm," Mr Obama said in the message.
McCain campaign officials have urged Republicans in St Paul to tone down their parties during this week's convention and some corporate sponsors are holding hurricane relief fundraisers in conjunction with receptions for delegates.
The biggest news in St Paul yesterday came before the convention opened, when vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin announced that her 17-year-old daughter was pregnant and planned to marry the unborn child's father. The McCain campaign raised more than $10 million (€6.8 million) over the weekend after Ms Palin was named as the running mate, bringing the total raised in August to more than $47 million, according to reports yesterday.
Mrs Bush yesterday praised Mrs Palin, telling Texas delegates in St Paul that claims that the first-term Alaska governor lacks experience were misplaced. She admitted that she and President Bush were surprised at the choice of Mrs Palin.
"We know how tough she is and we know what kind of women the state of Alaska produces, and how tough and strong she is. And she's a reformer. I think we can be very happy to have her on our ticket," Mrs Bush said.
Police in riot gear used pepper spray and smoke bombs against a few hundred violent protesters outside the convention arena. A group broke off from a larger, largely peaceful, march by as many as 10,000 protesters. The smaller group smashed police car windows and a Macys storefront, and a few threw glass bottles at police. The absence of President Bush did not deter the protesters. One said he suspected that the president was using the hurricane as an excuse to stay away.