Hurricane Gustav has brought mixed political weather for Republican presidential hopeful John McCain. While it has slowed his big convention party, it has also spared him from Democratic criticism that his election would amount to a third Bush term.
Republican convention organisers held a truncated business-only session yesterday and scrapped a planned speech by President George W. Bush, who visited Texas instead to oversee Gustav relief efforts.
The absence of the president, whose nationwide approval ratings hover around 30 per cent, did not deter a crowd of as many as 10,000 protesters who marched to the convention hall, chanting anti-war slogans and holding signs criticizing Bush and the war in Iraq.
Police in riot gear used pepper spray and smoke bombs, and arrested at least 130 demonstrators.
As Hurricane Gustav slammed the Gulf coast yesterday before being downgraded to a tropical storm, an unofficial bipartisan ceasefire prevailed, with most Republicans and Democrats pulling their punches while a major part of the country was being battered by the storm.
Several television news channels reported that Mr Bush may address the convention remotely today but the White House would not confirm the reports. According to the White House, the president has no official engagements today.
Normally, Republican speakers this week would be extolling the virtues of Mr McCain and trying to define his Democratic rival Barack Obama as a liberal who would raise taxes.
Instead, party activists in Minnesota have turned from politics to raising money for Gustav victims, with US first lady Laura Bush and Mr McCain's wife Cindy leading the charge.
Democrats arrived in St Paul looking to attack Mr McCain just as the McCain team had lashed out at Mr Obama all last week at the Democratic nominating convention in Denver. Mr McCain is to be formally nominated by the Republicans tomorrow as the party's candidate to face Mr Obama in the November 4th election.
The Democrats' message is that Mr McCain offers "more of the same" as Mr Bush, whose handling of the Katrina hurricane three years ago was widely criticised and contributed to his low approval ratings.
While Mr McCain is missing out on a chance to define Mr Obama for the American people, he also is not having to endure criticism about appearances by Mr Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, who both cancelled trips to St Paul to speak.
As Gustav steals St Paul's thunder, Mr McCain's vice presidential running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, is undergoing new scrutiny and paying some dividends for Mr McCain.
Ms Palin's surprise pick has injected some fresh energy into the McCain campaign, leading to larger crowds at his rallies. Since he made the announcement last Friday, his campaign has raised $10 million, contributing to an August tally of $47 million.
But Mr Palin also brings some baggage to the ticket. She and her husband Todd announced yesterday that their 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, was pregnant, and said the news was being released to counter Internet rumours that the Alaska governor's five-month-old son was actually her daughter's baby.
Republicans, however, rallied around Ms Palin following the announcement. "I just think she's remarkable," Cindy McCain told the Fox News channel. "She truly is a great match for my husband."