Hurricane Gustav’s political fallout: a subdued GOP convention

"Gustav already appears to have given McCain a political gift: Bush and Vice President Cheney canceled their Monday night speeches, and they are not likely to attend the convention at all. The absence of these unpopular figures helps McCain distance himself from them. The naming of Governor Palin to the ticket, a vocal social conservative, “already fired up the troops,” says Steven Schier, a political scientist at Carleton College in Northfield, Minn. With Bush and Cheney absent, “it will be harder to make the ‘McSame’ charge.”" Hurricane Gustav’s political fallout