USAToday: GOP suspends convention sessions due to Gustav
ST. PAUL — John McCain and Republican party officials agreed to suspend their national convention Monday out of concern for the strong hurricane headed toward New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, ordering a scaled-back opening session and leaving in doubt how the rest of the nominating meetings and political theater will be conducted.
McCain said the more than 4,000 delegates gathering here to give him the party’s presidential nomination would meet for a two-and-half-hour session Monday, beginning at 4 p.m. ET. They are to conduct only essential business, putting aside political speechmaking and leaving uncertain the following three days of the convention.
Seven hours of speeches had been planned for the first day — including President Bush and Vice President Cheney, both of whom canceled plans to attend the convention. Bush will fly to Texas on Monday to monitor Hurricane Gustav.“We take off our Republican hats and put on our American hats,” McCain said by satellite television hookup from St. Louis, where he had just returned from a tour of Mississippi areas potentially in the path of Hurricane Gustav.
However, The Rally for the Republic in Minneapolis will continue as planned.
The convention for former Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul will go on as planned, the campaign said Sunday, despite the RNC’s decision to truncate their program.
Paul’s campaign said it decided to stick with their schedule because it didn’t want to have to turn down the 10,000 people expected to attend the three-day event.
The main event takes place Tuesday at the Target Center in Minneapolis. When planning for the event began earlier this year, it was originally scheduled to take place at the University of Minnesota, but due to a “strong initial response,” it was moved to The Target in Minneapolis, which can house up to 18,000 people. Speakers Tuesday include NBC’s Tucker Carlson, former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura and another appearance by Paul.
The rally will officially launch Paul’s new political action group: the “Campaign for Liberty.”
Meanwhile, the protests will also go on, despite arrests.
Eight were taken away in handcuffs. The ninth, a 78-year-old Roman Catholic nun, was not cuffed.
All are charged with trespass for crossing a security fence into a restricted area near the Xcel Energy Center, the convention hall.
