GOP Considers Delaying Convention

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has raised the possibility of canceling his speech at the Republican convention because of the storm, while New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin cut short his visit to this week's Democratic convention in Denver.

White House press secretary Dana Perino said yesterday that it was "premature to say" whether the storm might have an impact on Bush's scheduled appearance Monday night. "These storms have a tendency to change, and so I don't have a scheduling update for you now," she told reporters. "Right now everything is on schedule."

Former White House spokesman Scott McClellan, who said in a recent book that Hurricane Katrina left "an indelible stain" on the Bush presidency, said Bush should be making plans to cancel his speech.

"If it's a major hurricane, I think that they certainly need to show they learned lessons from three years ago, both from a policy and perception standpoint," McClellan said.

He also suggested that McCain could benefit politically from such a scenario: It would allow Bush to mount an effective GOP response to a disaster, while removing the unpopular president from the convention roster. "It could be a two-fer," McClellan said.

Some Republicans bemoaned an apparent GOP curse when it comes to summer storms and noted the contrast between the approach of Gustav and the sunny weather in Denver for the Democrats. "The Republicans can't seem to catch a break when it comes to August and when it comes to the weather," said Karl Rove, a former Bush adviser, on Fox News yesterday.

Hurricane Andrew struck South Florida as a Category 5 storm in August 1992, and the sluggish federal response was castigated by state leaders as well as then-candidate Bill Clinton in his successful bid to defeat President George H.W. Bush that fall.

The current President Bush believed that the nation had dodged a bullet after Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005, only to realize belatedly that New Orleans had flooded and his administration's homeland security apparatus was overwhelmed.

Experts said that key for Bush and perhaps for McCain will be the ability of U.S. officials to respond quickly to unforeseen problems and stay ahead of the unfolding events, something they failed to do in the week after New Orleans flooded.

"This may be the October surprise in September," said George W. Foresman, former undersecretary of preparedness for the Department of Homeland Security. "Public messaging and attention to the public affairs part of the response is going to get added attention."

Michael D. Brown, who was forced out as chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency after Katrina, said all sides appear to have learned the importance of paying attention to disaster response.

"The American people want to know the people they elected are paying attention, care about them and are making decisions they need to make," Brown said. "The smart thing is not to poke their chests out and say what a great job they're doing or going to do, but just to do what needs to be done."

Staff writer Spencer S. Hsu contributed to this report.