The Associated Press

Sun, Aug 31, 2008 (12:39 p.m.)

John McCain tore up the script for his Republican National Convention on Sunday as Hurricane Gustav churned toward New Orleans. "We have to go from a party event to a call to the nation for action," he declared.

President Bush and Vice President Cheney jettisoned plans to speak to the convention on Monday, and McCain's campaign chartered a jet to fly delegates back to their hurricane-threatened states along the Gulf Coast.

The hasty reordering of an event months in the making underscored not only the risk posed by Gustav, but also an intense desire by McCain and Republicans to avoid the political damage President Bush suffered from his widely criticized response to Hurricane Katrina three years ago.

The formal business of the convention includes nominating McCain for president and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate on Wednesday. McCain's acceptance speech, set for prime time on Thursday evening, is among the most critical events of the campaign for his chances of winning the White House.

Apart from those few events, Republicans considered major changes to the convention schedule, underscoring McCain's campaign theme of service.

Options under consideration included shortening the four-day national convention and adding more public service elements to the official programing.

Emphasizing their concern, McCain and his newly named running mate traveled to Jackson, Miss., for a tour of the state's emergency management center.

"I pledge that tomorrow night, and if necessary throughout our convention, we will act as Americans, not as Republicans," McCain told reporters.

The events temporarily overshadowed a more traditionally political pre-convention debate over McCain's decision to name Palin to his ticket. She was mayor of small-town Wasilla, Alaska, for six years before she became governor in December 2006.

McCain's wife, Cindy, joined the ranks of the defenders. "The experience that she comes from is with what she's done in the government. And also, remember: Alaska is the closest part of our continent to Russia. So, it's not as if she doesn't understand what's at stake here," she said on ABC's "This Week."

Former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee said Palin had more experience than Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee. Obama was elected to the Senate in 2004 and previously served eight years in the Illinois legislature.

But Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut said McCain's selection was merely designed to appease the hard-right conservatives in the Republican Party. "His knees buckled" when it came time to picking a running mate, Dodd said of McCain.

McCain conferred by phone with Govs. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Bob Riley of Alabama and Charlie Crist of Florida during the day.

Crist, with a prominent speaking role at the convention, said he was staying in his home state to tend to hurricane business, and the others were staying home as well.

Democrats, too, decided to tone down their convention-week efforts.

Party spokesman Brad Woodhouse said the Democrats had canceled a "More of the Same" rally that had been slated for Monday.

Obama said he was ready to encourage his supporters to assist any victims of the hurricane.

"I think we can activate an e-mail list of a couple of million people who want to give back," he said.

Roger Villere Jr., Louisiana Republican Party chairman, said the chartered jet would fly delegates back to their home states and also fly back to Minnesota with family members who want to evacuate the Gulf Coast area.

"We got a large plane because we needed it. We'll take any delegate that would like to go back," Villere said.

"The McCain campaign has assured me this is the first priority," he said referring to the hurricane.

___

Associated Press writers Liz Sidoti and Sara Kugler in St. Paul, Charles Babington in Lima, Ohio, and Beth Fouhy in Jackson, Miss., contributed to this report.