Gustav forces Bush to miss Republican convention

St Paul: Republican John McCain's nominating convention suffered its first casualties from Hurricane Gustav on Sunday - both President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney will be unable to attend.

McCain, who has been harshly critical of Bush's performance during the Katrina hurricane three years ago as a way of distancing himself from the unpopular president, was headed to the Gulf region to survey emergency prep-arations.

He was accompanied by his newly minted vice presidential running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, the Washington outsider whose surprising selection on Friday stunned the political world and had US news media focusing on her rather than Democrat Barack Obama's powerful convention speech to 84,000 people in Denver last Thursday.

Formal nomination

Republicans were gathering in St Paul for their four-day convention to formally nominate McCain as their candidate to face Obama in the November 4 election. McCain is scheduled to close their event on Thursday night. The hurricane brewing in the Gulf of Mexico and apparently bearing down on New Orleans overshadowed the celebrations.

Unseemly

Republican leaders, including McCain himself, say it would be unseemly to be seen celebrating while a natural disaster unfolds 1,700km away.

Media attention on the hurricane would take away from the Republican convention, and Republicans in a gloomy mood this year because of the weak US economy, two wars and Americans spoiling for change need all the attention they can get.

Bush, whose handling of the 2005 Katrina hurricane was considered miserable by many Americans, was working hard to avoid any repeat of that fiasco.