WASHINGTON: This Labor Day felt like one for once, especially for those working to save the Gulf Coast from Hurricane Gustav. Sen. John McCain canceled most events on Monday, the opening day of the Republican National Convention (RNC), and promised no political rhetoric.
The step back from partisan political attacks was an unprecedented step as both major political parties scaled back their schedules to allow the Gulf Coast to deal with the battering of Hurricane Gustav and to show respect for those who fled the hurricane's path.
So what normally would have been a four-day extravaganza advertising the GOP ticket of John McCain and Sarah Palin has been downsized, at least early in the week, to a bare-bones affair. The Republicans could not afford to appear insensitive to the plight of the nation's Gulf Coast.
"There's nothing to gain from politics as usual," says John Zogby, an independent pollster.
Political observers, meanwhile, say Hurricane Gustav is doing to McCain what McCain did to Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama. By announcing his surprise running mate the morning after Obama's acceptance speech, nearly all discussion of the Obama grand finale ceased as the political world scrambled to learn more about Palin and analyze the meaning of her selection.
Whether a muted Republican convention can grab public attention beyond the GOP base remains to be seen. The severity of the storm will determine just how subdued Republicans need to remain for the rest of the week.
President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney yesterday canceled appearances at the RNC. And now Bush is likely to address the nation instead about Gustav's damage on the Gulf Coast.
In some ways, this is a nightmare scenario for the Republicans. The hurricane's assault put front and center once more some of the worst failings of the Bush presidency at the very moment when McCain was to begin presenting a vision of the post-Bush Republican Party to the nation.
With television tracking the storm's progress through Louisiana, it was hard for Americans to forget how Bush emerged from Hurricane Katrina severely wounded by what was viewed by many as his incompetence and lack of empathy.
Mc Cain has reacted to the scenario in an interesting manner -- rather than run away from the hurricane and its political risks, he ran toward it.
McCain is gambling that he can turn the storm to his advantage by appearing on television with a semi-presidential bearing, briefing Americans on emergency preparations and calling on the nation to put aside partisanship.
Convention planners said McCain hopes to show up at the RNC later in the week to accept his party's nomination, but cautioned that there was no guarantee where his acceptance speech would be, as he is not required to be in the RNC hall for the nomination to be official.
A number of Republican governors have also decided against attending the GOP convention. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger bowed out, citing a state budget dispute. All the governors of states in the hurricane's path also announced they weren't coming: Bobby Jindal of Louisiana (a rising star the party was hoping to showcase during prime time), Haley Barbour of Mississippi, Rick Perry of Texas, Bob Riley of Alabama, and Charlie Crist of Florida.
Numerous Republican members of the House and Senate facing tough re-election challenges had already announced they weren't coming, including Sens. John Sununu of New Hampshire and Gordon Smith of Oregon.
Some delegates from the Gulf region opted to head home, instead of staying for the convention, but others felt it important to stay and help nominate McCain and Palin. If nothing else, the convention must adopt the party platform and formally nominate the GOP ticket.
Meanwhile, Obama offered a daring -- and perhaps unwieldy -- rhetorical trick, analogizing the hurricane to a "quiet storm" of economic regression that had pounded the country. He suggested that the same marshaling of federal resources exhibited by the Bush administration should be used to lift Americans out of fiscal purgatory.
Republicans know he's right. "It's an opportunity to show government working this time," said Mark McKinnon, a former consultant to both Bush and McCain. "And if it does, it'll be good for New Orleans, it'll be good for the country and it'll be good for the administration and for the party.
