Sombre Republicans return to politics, festivities (News Feature)

By Frank Fuhrig Sep 3, 2008, 14:11 GMT

St Paul, Minnesota - Everybody knows that sending 2,227 alternate delegates - one for each of 2,227 elected delegates - is just an excuse to reward more of the Republican Party's most loyal activists at the quadrennial nominating convention.

'Normally it is, but not always,' said Louisiana delegate Trent Newell.

With Hurricane Gustav menacing the Gulf Coast, the Louisiana State University student saw many members of his state delegation leave the Republican National Convention in St Paul, Minnesota. Suddenly, alternate delegates were called on to replace elected delegates.

There wasn't much for them to do Monday, with convention organizers suspending most of the opening session to avoid an appearance of celebration and partisan politics amid the natural disaster unfolding 1,800 kilometres to the south.

By Tuesday, the worst was avoided in New Orleans, Louisiana, on the banks of the same Mississippi River that has its source in Minnesota and flows past St Paul, host city for this week's Republican National Convention.

Meanwhile, Gustav had been downgraded to a tropical depression, pouring rain on south-eastern states but without the earlier wind and fury.

Republican officials quickly geared up for Tuesday night with a revised, more extensive schedule.

President George W Bush, who cancelled his Monday convention speech to monitor the storm from Texas, addressed the delegates Tuesday night by live satellite link.

Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman, a Democrat turned independent, was among Monday's scuttled speakers. Instead, he gave Tuesday's featured address, a rousing endorsement of Republican nominee-in- waiting John McCain.

The Democrat's vice presidential nominee in 2000, Lieberman supports McCain's hard line on the Iraq war and record of independence from the Republican Party line.

Former senator Fred Thompson, who made a short-lived run for the Republican nomination won by McCain, gave a lengthy and unflinching account of McCain's brutal five-and-a-half years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam.

The appeals for party faithful to support disaster relief in the Gulf Coast region, which formed the centrepiece of Monday's truncated programme, remained prominent Tuesday and will continue throughout the convention, which climaxes Thursday with McCain's acceptance speech.

Texas delegate Tammi Sturm of Houston was born in New Orleans, where she still has family. A younger sister, nine months pregnant, was evacuated from St Charles parish, just outside New Orleans, to stay with a cousin in northern Louisiana.

'She called and told me, 'I am so proud of where you are right now. You're doing the job of the people',' said Sturm, a mother of three children aged 10 to 15.

Sturm, who works for a biomedical laboratory, defended the continuation of the convention and endorsed the tone that was struck. She said that her entire family has been supportive of her decision to remain at the convention: 'They all called me and said, 'You go, girl'!'

The more serious approach to start the convention did not stop delegates from having fun. Trading state campaign pins is a common practice, and Sturm sported a Puerto Rico delegation pin in Spanish.

'It has been amazing. I met people from Samoa,' she said. 'I met people from Maryland. I've never met anybody from Maryland.'

Newell, 20, the Louisiana State University student, is from the small town of Homer in northern Louisiana, far from Gustav's landfall, but is studying petroleum engineering and political science in Baton Rouge, about 100 kilometres off the coast in southern Louisiana. His friends on campus, where classes started last week, reported downed trees and widespread siding and roofing shingles torn from houses.

Preparing to vote in his first presidential election, there was 'no question' that Newell was disappointed about the low-key slate on Monday, but he understood the balance of practical and political necessities.

'It obviously preoccupies part of our minds. You'd like to be able to fully focus on the task at hand,' he said.

As Gustav approached, threatening a direct hit on New Orleans before weakening, the McCain campaign arranged a charter flight to the Gulf Coast for delegates who needed to return home.

It landed north of New Orleans in Jackson, Mississippi, and took off again for Minnesota 30 minutes later, loaded with delegates' families evacuating to Minneapolis-St Paul for the week.

'I'm sure it wasn't cheap, so we appreciate it,' Newell said.

He was looking forward to the convention returning to its intended purpose.

'Hopefully,' Newell said, 'it'll be back to business as normal.'