Hurricane won't alter plans for Republican convention: officials
ST. PAUL, Minnesota (AFP) — Republican officials said Saturday there were no plans to postpone the party's convention here next week due to Hurricane Gustav, which threatened to strike New Orleans by Tuesday.
As rumors swirled that President George W. Bush might cancel plans to address the convention Monday with the deadly storm bearing down on Louisiana, the officials said there had been no changes to the schedule.
"There are no plans for any postponement," said Mike Miller, convention director for operations.
"If a governor decides to stay home then we will make changes to the schedule. But as of today there are no changes," Miller told a press briefing.
White House spokesman Carton Carroll confirmed that Bush had not changed plans.
"It is true that we are monitoring the situation, of course, and there is a chance we can change the schedule, but at this time we have not made any changes," he said.
Gustav intensified into an "extremely dangerous" category four storm as it struck Cuba Saturday afternoon, with sustained winds hitting 230 kilometers (145 miles) an hour, according to the US National Hurricane Center.
It was on a course to strike Louisiana to the west of New Orleans early Tuesday, just days after the three-year anniversary of devastating Hurricane Katrina.
The Bush administration was sharply criticized for failing to react quickly to the tragedy unleashed by Katrina when it obliterated swathes of New Orleans on August 29, 2005 and killed 1,800 people along the coast.
Republicans have anxiously tracked the course of Gustav, which will likely begin battering the US Gulf Coast just as Bush is scheduled to address the four-day convention.
The convention will crown John McCain as its official presidential candidate in the November 4 elections, to take on Democrat Barack Obama who made history last week when he was nominated at the party's Denver convention as the first black presidential candidate for a major party.
