JOHN McCain last night urged his fellow Republicans to "do away with party politics and act as Americans".
The presidential candidate ordered most of the Republican convention's activities in Minnesota suspended today, the first day of the gathering.
"This is a time when we have to do away with party politics and act as Americans," he said as Republi
cans converged on their convention city to nominate him for the White House.
"I will take off my Republican hat and put on my American hat. We're going to suspend most of our activities except those that are absolutely necessary. I hope and pray we will be able to resume some of our normal operations as quickly as possible."
Republican National Committee chairman Mike Duncan said the first day would be abbreviated, with only basic business carried out before adjourning. The formal business of the convention includes nominating Mr McCain as the presidential candidate and Alaska governor Sarah Palin as his running mate on Wednesday. Mr McCain's acceptance speech, set for prime time on Thursday evening, is among the most critical events of the campaign for his chances of winning the White House.
President George Bush and vice-president Dick Cheney scrapped plans to address the convention today, and Mr McCain's campaign chartered a jet to fly delegates back to their hurricane-threatened states along the Gulf Coast.
The hasty reordering of an event months in the making underscored not only the risk posed by Hurricane Gustav, but also a desire by Mr McCain and Republicans to avoid the political damage that Mr Bush suffered from his widely criticised response to Hurricane Katrina three years ago.
Mr Bush will not be missed by Mr McCain, whose campaign has hinged on his ability to distance himself from one of the most unpopular presidents in recent history.
"Had the Bush administration not let this city (New Orleans] drown, essentially, we wouldn't be talking about it," said Democrat senator Chris Dodd.
In 2005 Mr Bush put a political appointee at the head of the disaster response organisation, Fema, and the result was to make a disaster out of a disaster. When Katrina's storm surge broke a levee and flooded the city, anarchy broke out and FEMA proved unable to respond.
The full article contains 384 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
