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GOP convention opening with appeal for Gustav aid
By David Espo
Associated Press
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ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Republicans staged a subdued opening to their storm-shadowed national convention on Monday, seeking aid for the Gulf Coast victims of Hurricane Gustav as well as support to send John McCain to the White House.

Personal news blended with the political when McCain's running mate announced that her 17-year-old unmarried daughter was pregnant. "We're proud of Bristol's decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents," Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said in a statement with her husband.

Outside the Xcel center, an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 anti-war protesters marched toward the convention, some of them smashing windows, puncturing tires and throwing bottles along the way. Police used pepper spray on the demonstrators and made at least five arrests.

The convention was less than 15 minutes old when Mike Duncan, chairman of the Republican National Committee, asked delegates to use their cell phones to text a five-digit code that would make a donation to the Red Cross for victims of the hurricane.

There was money news of a more conventional type, when McCain's aides announced he had raised at least $47 million last month for the fall campaign against Democratic rival Barack Obama. it was the largest monthly amount to date for the GOP candidate.

The opening day convention program was shorn of political rhetoric, and trimmed to 2½ hours from an intended seven in deference to the threat Gustav posed to New Orleans and other areas along the Gulf Coast.

Rather than a keynote address or other political oratory, the convention programmers gave McCain's wife, Cindy, and first lady Laura Bush top billing to make televised appeals for help for hurricane victims. The governors of four Gulf states were speaking by videotape.

Aides said they would determine the podium schedule for the balance of the week on a day-to-day basis.

The other business of the convention's opening session was adoption of a party platform, a document that largely sidesteps the national debate about the Iraq War.

"The waging of war — and the achieving of peace — should never be micromanaged in a party platform. ... In dealing with present conflicts or future crises, our next president must preserve all options," it said.

The war is one of the key issues in the campaign, with Obama favoring the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops on a 16-month timetable and McCain saying a fixed schedule merely plays into the hands of al-Qaida and others targeting Iraqi and U.S. troops.

The platform also calls for a constitutional amendment banning abortion, the deportation of illegal immigrants convicted of gang crimes and no new taxes. "The last thing America needs now is tax hikes," it added.

Hundreds of miles away, McCain visited a disaster relief center in Waterville, Ohio, helping pack cleaning supplies and other items into plastic buckets that will be sent to assist residents of the Gulf Coast area. He said he hoped people would respond to the hurricane by "using whatever gifts we have to help our fellow Americans."

Democrats also swung their attention to the hurricane.

Obama urged hundreds of thousands of supporters to donate to the Red Cross to help victims of Gustav. In a mass e-mailing — and the same text-messaging system he used to announce his vice presidential pick — he asked them to "please give whatever you can afford, even $10, to make sure the American Red Cross has the resources to help those in the path of this storm."

He scaled back a Labor Day speech to unions in Detroit to keep attention on the Gulf Coast. After stops in Michigan and Wisconsin, he was returning to his Chicago headquarters to monitor the storm's progress and decide his schedule for the rest of the week.

Obama has said he may visit storm-damaged areas once things have "settled down."

Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden canceled plans to march in a Labor Day parade in Pittsburgh to monitor storm developments. "Our focus right now should be on what's happening in the Gulf," he said.

As for Palin's daughter, McCain's campaign aides said Monday's statement was issued to rebut Internet rumors that the governor's four-month-old baby was, in fact, daughter Bristol's child.

"Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family," Sarah and Todd Palin said in the brief statement.

The father was identified in the statement as Levi, but the campaign said it was not disclosing his full name or age or how he and Bristol know each other, citing privacy.

Aides said Palin had informed McCain about her daughter's pregnancy before she was picked to be his running mate. At several points during the discussions, McCain's team warned the governor that the scrutiny of her private life would be intense and that there was nothing she could do to prepare for it.

"Senator McCain's view is this is a private family matter. As parents, (the Palins) love their daughter unconditionally and are going to support their daughter," said McCain spokesman Steve Schmidt.

"Life happens," he added.

Prominent religious conservatives, many of them long cool to McCain's candidacy, issued statements of support.

James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, commended the Palins for "for not just talking about their pro-life and pro-family values, but living them out even in the midst of trying circumstances."

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Reader comments on this story - 11 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

Meh wrote on Sep 2, 2008 8:40 AM:

" Its the right place to appeal for aid. Anyone who has the cash to pay the entrance fee to a RNC convention has the money to help out down in NOLA. And remember, Republicans hate new money. "

MHill wrote on Sep 2, 2008 7:18 AM:

" Nowhere in the article does it mention the fact that some of those arrested at the convention were members of the Press!! What a far cry from the Democratic Convention last week! "

republicrat wrote on Sep 1, 2008 9:43 AM:

" To pseudo-intellectual:
Yes, it's almost as sickening as all of the politicians tripping over themselves to use this situation to their political gain (both parties). Where were they all three years ago when it wasn't an election year? Even sadder is most people won't even see through their pandering, and will think it's really from their hearts. "

pseudo-intellectual wrote on Aug 31, 2008 6:49 PM:

" To earthling and liberal sickos like Michael Moore... Think about your vile statements before uttering them. This hurricane is not going to do any damage to the Republican party, but people in the region are likely going to die and thousands of lives will be disrupted. Is this really the sort of thing that intelligent people should take delight in? "

Burgerman wrote on Aug 31, 2008 4:09 PM:

" I don't see the sense in GWB staying away from the convention. There is not much he can do in Lousinia. The republicans have already lost that state due to their mishandling of Katrina. Obahma is correct, all the media is just a distraction from getting things done. "

alexp wrote on Aug 31, 2008 3:40 PM:

" President Bush will probably be as absent during this hurricane as he was the last time... "

earthling wrote on Aug 31, 2008 12:52 PM:

" How could God do this to the party of piety..the hosts of holiness? "

Dick Daley wrote on Aug 31, 2008 11:45 AM:

" Karl Rove is already planning on how to turn the RNC convention into a telethon for NOLA. Have to fix the mistake of GWB including FEMA in the Department of Homeland Security. "Your doing a heck of a job Brownie," meanwhile a city drowns is on Bush resume forever. America will never forget what happened and always blame them for what happened after Katrina. Good luck spinning this time Turd Blossom. "

votes often wrote on Aug 31, 2008 9:56 AM:

" Great! She knows Russia is to the west of Alaska. And I thought they stopped teaching geography a long time ago. "

republicrat wrote on Aug 31, 2008 9:54 AM:

" Luckily for whoever ends up as victims of this storm, we're sure to see a much better response to a catastrophe during an election year. "

dwarf wrote on Aug 31, 2008 9:48 AM:

" Righto, Cindy. The Russkies are attacking Alaska right this minute! "
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