Monday's Convention Proceedings Will be Cut Short

The McCain campaign is announcing that Monday's convention activities will begin as planned at 3pm, but will be dramatically curtailed because of Hurricane Gustav:

ST. PAUL — The Republican National Convention has suspended all but the most necessary activities to constitute a convention Monday and then will adjourn, John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee announced Sunday.

The convention “will suspend all activities except those that are absolutely necessary,” McCain said. “We hope to resume some normal activities but frankly that is the hands of God.”

McCain Campaign Manager Rick Davis said that additional activities will be determined on a day-by-day basis. He added that all activities at the convention will be procedural and not political.

Davis said the only critical activities of the convention are its establishment through the gaveling of the opening session, the certification of the Republican National Committee delegates and the nomination of both McCain for president and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as vice president. The first two can occur on the Monday afternoon session. The nominations had been scheduled for Wednesday.

In order to hold the convention, a quorum — or 50 percent plus one — of the delegates need to be present. Davis said the quorum will be called at 3 p.m. ET Monday and will last a couple hours.

Davis said he encouraged the speakers to attend and deliver their speeches, but he did not want to speculate on whether McCain would attend and called speculation he might not attend as “completely immature” and “outside the scope of specificity.”

I'll bet the TV networks are loving this. They've got millions of dollars wrapped up in equipment sitting in St. Paul, not to mention hours of coverage they had planned to fill with talking heads and floor speeches. The coverage will likely now ignore the convention and concentrate on Gustav.

There is a certain amount of business that has to get done, but the GOP could certainly use some of that TV time to help raise funds for Hurricane victims. If I was McCain I would announce that all my campaign offices around the country can be used as drop-off locations for money and supplies. You rent a truck in the major cities, slap a McCain-Palin sign on it, go around and pick the stuff up and deliver it wherever the Red Cross wants it to go. You satisfy two needs with one effort.

The GOP can't control the timing of the hurricane, but they can beat Obama to the punch on generating humanitarian support.

By the way, I haven't heard any announcements from Obama suspending his campaign activities this week? Should the Dems continue to campaign while Americans in the Red states suffer?

UPDATE: Here's the official announcement:

SAINT PAUL, Minn. -- At the direction of Sen. John McCain, the 2008 Republican National Convention announced substantial changes to the convention's program and actions being taken to help with Hurricane Gustav relief efforts. On Monday, all program activities beyond the official business that must be conducted in accordance with party rules will be cancelled. Among the other actions announced today are the formation of the Affected States Working Group, the establishment of an Affected States Information Center, and the chartering of a DC-9 to transport affected delegates.

Rick Davis, campaign manager for McCain 2008, announced that the upcoming Republican National Nominating Convention is making serious revisions to the convention program and surrounding activities. Davis said, "We are deeply concerned about the safety and welfare of the residents of the Gulf State region. Our top priority is to assist those who will be affected by Hurricane Gustav. This is not a time for politics or celebration; it is a time for us to come together as Americans and assist the residents of the Gulf States."

Davis also discussed what the changes in the program will mean for the nomination process. "In order for the Republican Party to officially exist and for Senator McCain to qualify for the ballot, we are - by law - required to conduct specific official business. At this point, our program on Monday has been scaled back and will only include what party rules governing the nomination of our candidates for president and vice president require. We will perform the official business as required. In addition, we have set aside time to make delegates and Americans watching our proceedings at home aware of what they can do to assist in relief efforts designed to help those who will be affected by Hurricane Gustav."

Davis concluded: "At some point between Monday and Thursday evening, we will convene once again to complete the activities needed to qualify Senator McCain and Governor Palin for the ballot in all 50 states. Beyond that, all we can say is that we will monitor what is happening and make decisions about other convention business as details become available."