Bush may address nation tomorrow night ... Rush Limbaugh to J-Mart: “Palin=Guns, Babies, Jesus” … Newsweek cover: McCain/Palin ... Kristol: Republicans now think “they have a real shot” ... The campaign raised $4.7 million online Friday, the largest one-day haul of the campaign
Birthdays: Tommy “The Bull” Vietor and Ed Goeas (Double hat tip: Jonathan Martin)
ST. PAUL – Hello. Tough to say “good morning” when so many good Americans are faced with the horror and misery of another hurricane strike along the Gulf coast.
AP latest: "Hurricane Gustav charged across the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday as residents fled New Orleans and the National Guard prepared to patrol evacuated neighborhoods in a city still recovering three years after Katrina. Gustav dropped from a Category 4 to a Category 3 storm overnight, but forecasters warned it could gain strength from the gulf's warm waters before making landfall as early as Monday.
... A hurricane warning was issued for over 500 miles of Gulf coast from Cameron, La., near the Texas border to the Alabama-Florida state line, meaning hurricane conditions are expected there within 24 hours. Alabama. ...
The storm should make landfall somewhere between western Mississippi and East Texas, where evacuations were also under way. It's too early to know whether New Orleans will take another direct hit."
White House officials announced this morning what Politico reported last night: President Bush is unlikely to attend the Republican National Convention.
ABC’s George STEPHANOPOULOS at the top of “This Week”: “Plans are being made to have him address the delegates and the nation on video tomorrow night.”
McCain is traveling to Jackson, Miss., today with his wife, Cindy, and running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, where they’ll be met Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) for a series of briefings. Officials say they’ll make final calls about the convention after the senator gets those briefings.
McCain campaign manager Rick Davis has arrived in the Twin Cities. Campaign and convention officials are talking around the clock.
Convention officials still think an appearance by McCain is LIKELY, although a satellite address from the Gulf coast is possible.
OFFICIALS ARE DEBATING HAVING A TELETHON TO RAISE MONEY FOR HURRICANE RELIEF, OR PERHAPS BRINGING IN THE RED CROSS AND HAVE DELEGATES ASSEMBLE CARE PACKAGES.
Brit HUME on the “Fox News Sunday” roundtable: “I think it’s political correctness, but I think it’s necessary for the Republicans, because the public perception of the handling of Hurricane Katrina is that the administration – and therefore, by extension, the Republicans – made a horrible shambles of it and were insensitive and all that. So you’re going to see maximum sensitivity.
It’s going to take some real imagination to figure out a way to present this convention in this context so that it ends up being an effective communication device for this nominee and his running mate. I don’t know how they’re going to do it, but that’s the challenge.”
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