As we noted earlier today, several prominent Republicans--including Fred Thompson--have taken to mentioning Harry Truman when asked about Sarah Palin's skimpy resume. Turns out that the references to 33rd president are part of the GOP's latest talking points--as NEWSWEEK's Jonathan Alter reports. "Look at Harry Truman, where he stood, how much experience he had before he was chosen as vice president," said Thompson this afternoon. Alter did--and what he found doesn't exactly flatter Palin. Here's Jon:

The GOP talking points on Monday instructed all surrogates to compare the selection of Sarah Palin to FDR's choice of Harry Truman in 1944. The idea is that a plain spoken candidate who isn't an expert can become a great president. In some iterations, the surrogates mention that FDR and Truman met only briefly before Roosevelt died, and that he never told Truman about the atom bomb.

The Truman-Palin comparison is a bad one. By the time of the 1944 Democratic convention Truman was an experienced U.S. Senator from Missouri who had reached national prominence by chairing an important committee that examined profiteering and other contractor abuses during World War II. Not only was Truman no rookie, he had studied history and government for many years on his own and was thus extremely well-versed on the issues of the day and their historical context. Time and again, Truman impressed friends and colleagues with how much he knew.

Perhaps Palin has been reading history for years and boning up Truman-style on public issues. If so, we don't know it yet.
 

By Carl Sullivan 

While Hurricane Gustav has wreaked havoc on the Republican convention's schedule, the Louisiana delegation that made its way to St. Paul has been especially distracted. "There's no question that our delegation is torn in our hearts and in our thoughts because we've been glued to the television, talking on the telephones, trying to get updates on what's happening," said state Rep. Kay Katz from the subdued floor of the convention Monday afternoon. "That's upset us a good bit, but we also understand that we've been charged to be here, to cast a vote so that we can place a nominee on the ballot." 

When First Lady Laura Bush appeared on stage moments later, no delegation cheered louder, except for maybe the large Texas group dressed in matching denim shirts and cowboy hats. Bush and Cindy McCain, in a brief appearance, urged attendees to contribute to hurricane-related charities.

"It's been tough for the whole delegation," said Aaron Baer, a spokesman for the state GOP. He said three to four delegates of the state's 47 delegates and 44 alternates left St. Paul to head back to Louisiana, and another handful of delegates canceled plans to attend. Many in his group were wearing red ribbons on their lapels in solidarity with their neighbors back home.

On Monday, the McCain campaign provided air transportation for Louisiana delegates who wanted to head back to the Gulf, and on the way back, ferried some family members to St. Paul so they could join delegates already here.

Lloyd Harsch, an alternate from New Orleans, said he never considered canceling his trip; he had to evacuate his home in the Gentilly neighborhood anyway. Late Monday, Harsch said the levee that's about a half mile from his house appeared to be holding, though he had heard of flooding in some other parts of the city.

Convention organizers continued to downplay politics on Monday, which delegates from Gulf Coast states seemed to appreciate. Still, Louisiana delegates were quick to praise new Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal, drawing an unspoken contrast to the previous Democratic incumbent, Kathleen Blanco, who was criticized, along with President Bush, for her handling of Hurricane Katrina. "We have a lot of faith that Gov. Jindal did a good job of preparing the state and getting people out long before the storm hit." Baer said. "If there's anyone we can trust to help the state through this, it's him."

Katz, who represents Monroe, about five hours north of New Orleans, said she was proud of the state's response to Gustav--a pride that no one felt after Katrina. "We have over 7,000 evacuees in our small town now," she said, pointing to the housing of refugees all across the state. "We still don't know the full extent of the damage. We have hope--but we know it's not over 'til it's over."

Suzanne Smalley and a handful of Washington Post colleagues cornered Karl Rove this afternoon to ask about today's announcement that 17-year-old Bristol Palin, the daughter of newly minted GOP veep pick, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, is five months pregnant--and find out what (if anything) that news has to do with the completely unproven (and completely ridiculous, in Stumper's humble opinion) Internet rumors that the Alaska governor faked an earlier pregnancy to cover for her teenage child. Excerpts:
 
REPORTERS: Can you comment on what you think of the way that this pregnancy story made its way from a left-wing blog to the national media? Does that trouble you?
Karl Rove: You know, I didn’t see the original left-wing blog.
 
But as you probably know, it questioned whether Governor Palin herself [faked her pregnancy to cover for her teenage daughter]?
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I saw the Daily Kos [a blog that posted such rumors]. I see that as a separate track, that’s a separate beat than this [announcement that Palin’s 17-year-old daughter is pregnant].
 
But isn’t that what ultimately prompted the campaign [to announce Palin’s daughter’s pregnancy today]?
No, I don’t think so. I think they had a plan to put this out. They have to. She’s five months pregnant, so by election time she’ll be seven months pregnant.
 
Do you think they wanted to do it at the beginning of the convention?
I don’t know when they wanted to do it. But today’s a reasonably good day to do it.
 
Because?
Lots of news. And they get a chance to have this ruminated over several days.
 
Before she takes the stage?
Right.
 
You said earlier she’s a risky pick?
What I said was that this was a gamble. And it was a deliberate gamble. They’re picking somebody who is not well known, who has not been on the national stage, so it carries with it risks and rewards. As does, you know, frankly, picking the guy who got less than 1 percent of the primary vote for president on the Democratic side and who has a reputation for being a little bit long-winded.
 
Did you call him [Biden] a blowhard doofus [as has been reported]?
Well, I’m gonna leave it at that.

ST. PAUL, Minn.--Talk about a time warp. On the streets of St. Paul, a pair of anti-war activists approached a phalanx of riot police bedecked in traditional billy-club-and-gas-mask regalia--and offered them some freshly-picked flowers. The protesters received a face full of pepper spray in return.

Apparently, SWAT teams don't like daisies--even after all these years. As approximately 10,000 protesters--and what seemed like nearly as mainly cops--took to the streets this afternoon to replay the timeless battle between provocative faux-naivete and ostentatious authoritarian machismo, it was possible to imagine that a certain section of downtown St. Paul had magically interrupted the space-time continuum and transported itself back to 1968. Whether it was the weather (sunny, warm), the timing (Labor Day) or the simple fact that the cancellation of this evening's convention festivities had left everyone looking for something to do, the peaceful "Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War" Rally that began around 11:00 a.m. this morning at the state capitol quickly descended into the rather rote melodrama of The People vs. The Man--with each side playing their preassigned roles to the hilt.

The curtain went up, I gather, when the masses started marching toward the Xcel Energy Center around 2:00 p.m. Most made it uneventfully to convention headquarters, but it didn't take long for breakaway groups to create clusters of chaos throughout the downtown area. Some smashed windows on the first floor of Macy's; others surrounded a bus in the middle of an intersection; still others threw bottles at the authorities. Predictably, their activities drew the attention of the local riot squads--which seemed to be part of the point. (After all, everyone came equipped with bandannas to block the hoped-for tear gas.) When I arrived at the corner of Wabasha and Kellogg around 3:00, lines of cops, some on foot, some on horseback, were enthusiastically herding the remaining protesters northeast up Kellogg with a combination of pepper spray, tear gas, rubber bullets and deafening "flashbang" hand grenades. Walking behind the police, I spotted a middle-aged man in an "Anarchy" t-shirt shouting "the world is watching you!"; dreadlocked, pimply teens wearing oversized shorts and shooting silly string into the air; members of a group called "Funk the War" dancing to Public Enemy in the middle of Fourth St.; and representatives of the National Lawyers Guild, a left-wing Bar Association, scurrying around in florescent green caps. "Is this appropriate?" said an NGL worker named Anne (she was repeating my question). "Of course it's not appropriate! They're acting like we live in a police state!" That said, most of the people involved--the protestors, the national guard, the local cops, the journalists--seemed be thoroughly proud of themselves. It was almost as if something was happening.

Not everyone got off unscathed. According to officials, today's protests resulted in 13 arrests, seven misdemeanors, two gross misdemeanors and four felonies. (UPDATE: The final tally was more than 200 arrests.) I saw the cops tackle and pin a young protester to the ground in the middle of Kellogg Blvd. after he seemed to knock over a newspaper dispenser and a garbage can; when I returned to check on him 20 minutes later, scrapes and scratches covered his shirtless body. Asked his name, the boy indicated that he was having trouble breathing; an ambulance was apparently on its way. But more of the casualties were like the young woman who was pepper-sprayed earlier for offering the cops a flower. Fifteen minutes after the incident, I spotted her leaning against a wall three blocks away as her friends--eager for conflict, they'd brought along first-aid kits--flushed out her eyes with water. Crying uncontrollably, she told everyone to step back as she theatrically slammed her fists into the side of the building. Then she shouted "I'm ready" and sprinted off towards the shrinking riot. Her eyes were still closed.

Nearby, local children's television producer Cathy Shugrue, 54, told me she was shocked by the scene. "St. Paul usually looks like a ghost town," she said. "I'm just trying to get to my car."

 

 

 

 

 

NEWSWEEK's Jonathan Alter looks at efforts by the Service Employees International Union to get out the vote

ST. PAUL, Minn.--Fred Thompson is a talented actor, but even he couldn't conceal the fact that he thinks John McCain's new running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, is something of a gamble--albeit a gamble that going's to pay off. "No nominee that I've ever heard of has had all the boxes checked," he confessed this afternoon during lunch with NEWSWEEK's convention team here at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in downtown St. Paul, referring to Palin's rather skimpy resume. "Whether she can survive those liabilities depends on things that haven't happened yet. John McCain has lot riding on this. I think she'll do very well, but it's up to her to carry the mail."

If today's encounter is any indication, Thompson hasn't changed since stepping out of the spotlight last January. He's still the same slow-moving, sardonic, Southern-fried character he was on the trail. But it was clear during our meeting that his lumbering grizzly bear act conceals a savvy intelligence keenly attuned--at least this afternoon--to Republican talking points. Thompson's performance, in fact, struck me as a preview of what's to come from the GOP.

A few key exchanges. Pressed on Palin's inexperience, the Tennessean turned the tables on Obama--as I predicted last week that Republicans would do. "I wonder sometimes what we call experience," he drawled. "How much experience does Barack Obama have? Sitting on the floor of the Senate listening to people talk does not give you foreign-relations experience." But McCain has always said that his VP must be able to assume the Oval Office at a moment's notice, we reminded him. Is Palin ready? At this, Thompson groaned. "Ahhhh," he said, pausing for a moment before finding his footing. "Yes, I do. Look, remember what the standard is. Go back and look at vice-presidential picks throughout the history of the country. Look at Harry Truman, where he stood, how much experience he had before he was chosen as vice president." Given that Thompson was the third Republican to mention Truman since I arrived this morning, I suspect we'll hear more about the Missourian--who went from county commissioner in 1935 to leader of the free world in 1945--before November.

But the most interesting debate--and potentially the most consequential--was about Palin's daughter Bristol, 17, who announced this morning that she's five-months pregnant and planning to marry the father of her child. Pushed by NEWSWEEK's reporters and editors to say whether having a pregnant teenage daughter and five-month-old baby with Down syndrome at home will raise questions about Palin's "priorities," Thompson immediately questioned the questioners. "Would you be saying that about man running for office in her shoes?" he asked. "I really think you're going to be surprised at how average people--and especially women--who are not necessarily political one way or another identify with her. I see nothing in this that will hurt Sarah Palin politically. I mean, I get that it's a necessary part of the process to ask those questions. But we have to keep it fair. If we don't keep it fair, it will redound to her benefit." Judging by the reaction in the room--one female Newsweeker said she couldn't "believe that [our male reporters] were even asking this question"--I have a feeling he's right. Saying a woman can't pursue her professional goals AND care for her children is never a winning political issue--whether it's conservatives or liberals wagging their fingers.

The only part of Thompson's remarks that wouldn't fly with GOP message controllers was the stuff about risk. Asked how much time Palin has to prepare for the spotlight, Thompson didn't pull any punches. "Not much," he said--perhaps with a bit of rue regarding his own ill-fated run. "She has to be prepared to do everything, from answering the big questions to pronouncing the names of foreign leaders correctly. That's rule No.1 now. She's going to get tested in every conceivable way in that regard and she's got to be able to handle it." Part of the problem with Palin, Thompson admitted--and the promise, for that matter--is that she's something of a Cinderella story. "This is the stuff they make movies out of," he said, laughing. "In fact, it's a good idea for one."

Does the senator have any parts picked out? we asked.

"I have a couple," he said.

By Katie Paul

The news about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s family dominated the headlines Monday afternoon--and triggered a debate about politics, motherhood and the balance between the two. But the particulars of her personal life may not be as useful in judging her candidacy for the No. 2 job as does her legislative record on family issues.

Two years into her governorship, that record is still pretty thin. Although openly pro-life, Palin has spent her political capital on other projects, like the natural-gas pipeline project she finally managed to push through at the beginning of August. As a result, besides giving speeches at Right to Life events, the family-values governor appears to have barely devoted any time or energy to family issues in her first two years in office. She rejected a state legislator’s request for extra debates on a partial-birth-abortion ban during a special session in April, saying she'd need to see a “path to success” to justify additional time spent on the issue.

But her administration may be about to lay fresh tracks; now that Palin has successfully tackled the energy matter, her special assistant says she's eager to direct her energies toward "other issues" important to her. She wouldn't specify further, so perhaps the most detailed account of Palin's views remains her responses to a questionnaire put out in 2006 by the Alaskan arm of the conservative pro-family group The Eagle Forum. We've pulled the questions most relevant to family planning, but you can access the questionnaire in its entirety here.

1. Complete the sentence by checking the applicable phrases (you can check more than one).
Abortion should be:

• Banned throughout entire pregnancy.
• Legal to save the life of the mother.
• Legal in case of rape and incest.
• Legal if the baby is handicapped.
• Legal if the baby has a genetic defect.
• Legal in the first trimester.
• Legal in the second trimester.
• Legal in the third trimester.
• Other:__________________

Sarah Palin: I am pro-life. With the exception of a doctor’s determination that the mother’s life would end if the pregnancy continued. I believe that no matter what mistakes we make as a society, we cannot condone ending an innocent’s life.

3. Will you support funding for abstinence-until-marriage education instead of for explicit sex-education programs, school-based clinics, and the distribution of contraceptives in schools?
Sarah Palin: Yes, the explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support.

8. Do you support parental choice in the spending of state educational dollars?
Sarah Palin: Within Alaska law, I support parents deciding what is the best education venue for their child.

12. In relationship to families, what are your top three priorities if elected governor?
Sarah Palin: 1) Creating an atmosphere where parents feel welcome to choose the venues of education for their children; 2) Preserving the definition of “marriage” as defined in our constitution, and 3) Cracking down on the things that harm family life: gangs, drug use, and infringement of our liberties including attacks on our 2nd Amendment rights.
 

Editor's Note: This item originally reported that Palin's public-health division had decided to submit an application for a federally-funded program to promote abstinence from sexual activity. Subsequent reporting revealed that the division had decided otherwise.

ST. PAUL, Minn.--He moves in mysterious ways.

On a flight from Denver's Democratic Convention to South Carolina last Friday, former Democratic National Committee Chairman Don Fowler said something rather uncouth about Hurricane Gustav to seatmate Rep. John Spratt (D-S.C.). “The hurricane is going to hit New Orleans about the time they start," joked Fowler, referring to the Republicans and their upcoming convention. "That just demonstrates God is on our side." Filmed by an unidentified cell phone voyeur, a video of the exchange swiftly surfaced on the conservative blog RedState.org, spurring a predictable maelstrom--pun intended--of Republican outrage. "Despicable," said Katron Dawson, chairman of the Palmetto State GOP. "A cynical polarization of life and death."

In taking umbrage, Dawson was just doing his job. But as the Republican convention gets underway here in St. Paul, Minn. this morning, I can't help but wonder if what GOPers are really thinking about Fowler's remarks--and the unspoken delight of Democrats all across the country at the news that convention festivities have been curtailed, at least for Monday--is not that they're politically incorrect, but that they're politically inaccurate. In other words, Gustav is treating the Gulf Coast horribly--but he may not do John McCain much harm.

Tasteless or not, it's easy to see what Fowler's joke was getting at. Modern nominating conventions are essentially extended advertisements for each party's presidential candidate, meant mostly to rev up the faithful--and with his disorganized campaign and dispirited base, McCain seemed as recently as last week to need a pep rally more than most. But now, unable to attack Barack Obama or make much of a case for his candidacy--as Obama himself had done last Thursday in Denver amid the roar of 80,000 excited Democrats and the gushing praise of the entire media establishment--the Arizona senator would miss his final opportunity to speak unfiltered to the voting masses before Nov. 4. With the networks diverting most of their resources and reporters to the Gulf, no one would be tuning in.

But this analysis ignores a couple of key factors. First and foremost, there's Alaska Governor--and newly minted McCain running mate--Sarah Palin. Much of the early coverage of McCain's surprise pick focused on whether or not she could help the GOP nominee woo disgruntled Clintonistas. But so far, it's the senator's relationship with the right wing--the part of his party least inclined, until now, to feel any real warmth for the Arizona "maverick"--that's benefitted the most from her selection. Since tapping the unequivocally pro-life, pro-gun, raised-as-a-Pentecostal Palin, the campaign has raked in nearly $7 million online, much of it from excited evangelicals, and McCain now boasts the enthusiastic support of nearly 9 in 10 Republican delegates, according to a new CBS News / New York Times poll. "“Home f***ing run,” Rush Limbaugh told the Politico in an email. “Palin=Guns, Babies, Jesus." This means, of course, that much of the work observers expected McCain to do at the convention is already done. No need for glossy videos and glittering confetti--the base is already on board. In fact, the longer the press is distracted by Gustav, the longer the spunky beauty queen's honeymoon will last.

The second factor? President George W. Bush. When Fowler was cracking wise about Gustav's timing, he was undoubtedly hoping that the latest natural disaster to strike New Orleans would remind the American people of the greatest failure of Bush's second term in office--Hurricane Katrina (which, coincidentally, made landfall three years ago last weekend). But his logic (Katrina=Gustav=dissatisfaction with the GOP=more votes for Obama) is pretty misguided. What's actually happening is that McCain, by shutting down the convention and working to help the battered Gulf Coast, is getting the chance to drive the two major messages of his campaign: that 1) he's willing to sacrifice his own personal interests and "Put Country First" (as the convention's new slogan conveniently suggests) and 2) he's no Dubya. "You don't wish for it, but it shows McCain dealing with a surprise--a big event that has consequences on people," a convention planner told the Politico this morning. "It's redemption for the Republican Party on the competence issue. The convention ends up being about John McCain showing the best way to serve a cause greater than yourself." In reality, McCain isn't reorganizing the federal infrastructure to speed relief to New Orleans--which is what it would take to actually improve on Bush's 2005 performance. And the senator would hurt rather than help the authorities' efforts by delivering a speech in Mississippi this week--as McCain has hinted he might do. But in terms of political perceptions, shifting the spotlight from himself to the Gulf will probably do McCain more good--especially with moderates--than another week of partisan Obama-bashing.

Given the other positive byproducts of a suspended convention--no shots of Bush with McCain; no news from Dick Cheney; lots of stories about Republicans engaged in charitable outreach instead of internal squabbles--it's hard not to suspect that Fowler was wrong. For this week at least, God may be batting for the GOP.
 

By Suzanne Smalley 

Hurricane Gustav has done more than just put a dent in the Republican's party. The surging storm has also complicated a large-scale counteroffensive by Democrats eager to define John McCain as the second coming of George W. Bush. The Democratic National Committee has set up a command center for launching attacks on the GOP ticket-dubbed the "More of the Same" Center--in a labor hall across the street from the Xcel Center in downtown St. Paul. The idea is to be right in the center of the action. "In Denver, the Republicans were a mile
away," Damien LaVera, a spokesman for the DNC crowed. "We couldn't be closer if we were part of the convention program."

But the center has been calmed by the storm; Democrats worry that Gustav's approach would make their planned assault appear unseemly. A DNC rally scheduled for Monday to "welcome George Bush and Dick Cheney to St. Paul" was canceled and other events may be scratched.

LaVera said the DNC has also suspended a mobile advertising caravan they have had following McCain around Ohio out of respect for people on the Gulf Coast.

Still, the small army of DNC fact checkers and communications aides who have descended on St. Paul will have their hands full this week. The party canceled a scheduled press conference because of the storm, but LaVera says the Democrats tentatively plan to hold daily briefings going forward with prominent senators and governors, who will also be made available to local reporters seeking satellite interviews. What’s more, the DNC has posted ads in more than two dozen bus shelters around the Twin Cities featuring Bush and McCain embracing next to the "More of the Same" logo. A similar image is plastered on a massive highway billboard located along the highway running from the airport to the convention hall. LaVera said there's no other way to St. Paul, guaranteeing convention attendees can't miss it.

On July 12, a dozen or so anti-war protesters from the Chicago-based Voices for Creative Non-Violence set off on a 500-mile trek to the convention. They've been walking 12 miles a day, meeting with local peace groups at night. Newsweek's Sarah Kliff caught up with Dan Pearson, the march's organizer, a just before their arrival in the Twin Cities:

Newsweek: What are you protesting?
Pearson: As we're coming into an election season, Iraq seems to be disappearing from the headlines but there's still a refugee and humanitarian crisis. We're calling for specific things like the full reconstruction of Iraq and the highest quality healthcare for vets who return.

How does walking to the RNC get that message across?
Walking is a very good way to reach out to regular people. People approach us and have discussions. Also, we think it's pretty powerful to show that we're willing to modify our own lifestyle in order to create a world that we'd rather see.

What's been your most interesting stop?
As we were coming through the Fort McCoy military reservation [in Wisconsin], many of the soldiers who we walked past were waving at us, giving us thumbs up and peace signs. That was really encouraging.

You've been walking for nearly two months. Do your feet hurt?
My feet feel great, but I do have some serious holes in my shoes. But after a week or so, you kind of get into a groove.
 

By Holly Bailey 

Without a hint of irony, someone compared it to "the last flight out of Saigon."

Northwest Airlines 1711 was the last direct flight out of Washington's Reagan National Airport to Minneapolis/St. Paul on Sunday evening, and not surprisingly, the passenger list was pretty much a TV booker's dream come true. First, there was John McCain's 96-year-old mother, Roberta, traveling with her younger son, Joe. From the moment they arrived at the gate, the pair were mobbed by GOP staffers, reporters and other well-wishers. "Well hello," Roberta said, as former CIA director Jim Woolsey (also a passenger on the flight) came up to shake her hand. A few feet away, Joe, who bears a strong resemblance to his brother, was showing off his carry-on: "It's John's original flight jacket," he said, unzipping a large garment bag to allow people to see inside. "He didn't see it for five and a half years." Slowly zipping the bag closed, he explained that he was too afraid to ever check it. "I won't even leave it in the overhead bin. I worry too much about it," Joe explained, as onlookers snapped photos. Roberta, dressed in a bright red and white skirt ensemble, interrupted her son, inquiring if there was a Starbucks nearby. "Can you get me a latte?" she asked, and her son nodded and disappeared. But she wasn't alone for long. "Roberta!" exclaimed Sen. Joe Lieberman, who had just walked up to the gate area with his wife, Hadassah. Roberta clasped his hand, winking at Marshall Wittmann, a former McCain aide who now works for Lieberman. Joe, back with his mom's latte, began shaking hands with young volunteers en route to St. Paul. "I was 26 when I went to my first convention," Joe told one. "I never ever wanted to go to another one."

On the plane, the Liebermans were seated in first class, causing a traffic jam among reporters and political types eager to say hello. "Hi there," Lieberman said again and again. "Glad to see you." A flight attendant, mildly irritated, took to the intercom, asking passengers to "quickly take their seats." The plane was full of NBC producers and pundits, including Tucker Carlson and Hardball's Chris Matthews, who also waved at Lieberman from his first row seat. When MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell passed by, Lieberman told her he hadn't seen her on TV in a while. "I just had a baby," she said. "Wow! You look great," Lieberman exclaimed. A few minutes later, more of the McCain contingent boarded, including campaign spokesmen Tucker Bounds, who chatted into his cell phone as he walked to his seat. "Barack Obama, who has really no experience to speak of, is trying to call our VP inexperienced?" Bounds said into the phone, an irritated look on his face. During the flight, Matthews mingled with the Liebermans, and then with Joe McCain, who joked about the time he had been mistaken as John McCain's father during the 2000 GOP convention in Philadelphia. "He said, ‘We appreciate all of what your son has done,'" Joe said, incredulously. "Hello? I am six years younger than him!"

From his perch in the last row in first class, columnist Tony Blankley joked with fellow passengers about the star-studded (by Washington's standards anyway) flight. "On flights, I usually look around to see how high I'd be mentioned in the story if the plane were to crash," he joked. "On this one, I don't think I'd get a mention at all."
 

A round-up of this morning's must read-stories.

PARTY'S PLANS UNSETTLED; MCCAIN VISITS GULF
(Patrick Healy and Adam Nagourney)
Senator John McCain and his advisers decided on Sunday to halt all but the most essential activities for the Republican National Convention on Monday, sacrificing a major televised platform for his political message as Mr. McCain seeks to project a forceful response to the threat of Hurricane Gustav. With the storm expected to hit the Gulf Coast on Monday, Mr. McCain and his team spoke by phone on Sunday morning and, one participant said, quickly decided that there was no choice but to cancel much of the first day of the convention. McCain advisers said the programming for the rest of the four-day convention would be determined on a day-to-day basis, and many questions remained open, such as whether Mr. McCain, of Arizona, and his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, would appear here to accept their party’s nominations, or would appear by video from the Gulf Coast.

THE HURRICANE IN QUESTION IS STILL CALLED KATRINA
(Dan Balz, Washington Post)
Now a storm called Gustav threatens to remind voters of perhaps the signal event that helped turn them against the GOP -- the Bush administration's botched response to the devastating 2005 storm. What neither McCain nor the party can tolerate now is anything that smacks of insensitivity or incompetence in the face of another potential natural disaster. As he told NBC anchor Brian Williams on Sunday, the opening of the convention "has got to be Americans helping Americans. America first." Gustav has disrupted McCain's convention, but the storm also presents the candidate with an opportunity to show that he would be a different kind of president than Bush. His decisions to fly to Mississippi on Sunday for a pre-storm assessment and then to radically redraw the agenda for the convention's opening night until it is clear what might happen with the storm send a message that some top Republicans believe will serve him well in the campaign ahead against Obama.

OBAMA TO ENLIST SUPPORTERS FOR GUSTAV AID
(Jeff Zeleny, New York Times)
Senator Barack Obama said Sunday that his campaign would mobilize its giant e-mail list of supporters – to volunteer or send contributions – as soon as the impact of Hurricane Gustav becomes known in the Gulf Coast. “We can activate an e-mail list of a couple million people who want to give back,” Mr. Obama told reporters after leaving services at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Lima. “I think we can get tons of volunteers to travel down there if it becomes necessary.” Mr. Obama has made no plans to travel to the Gulf Coast, saying he does not want to get in the way of emergency efforts there, but he has spoken by telephone to Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.

JOHN, DON'T GO
(Paul Krugman, New York Times)
Let’s hope that Mr. McCain doesn’t jet into the disaster area in Gustav’s aftermath. The candidate’s presence wouldn’t do anything to help the area recover. It would, however, tie up air traffic and disrupt relief efforts, just as Mr. Bush did when he flew into New Orleans to congratulate Brownie on the work he was doing. Remember the firefighters who volunteered to help Katrina’s victims, only to find that their first job was to stand next to Mr. Bush while the cameras rolled? To be fair, Republican plans to deal with Gustav by turning their convention into a “service event,” perhaps a telethon to raise funds for victims, are a good idea. So is the Obama campaign’s plan to mobilize its e-mail list to send aid and volunteers. But personal, voluntary aid is no substitute for an effective public response to disaster. What we really need is a government that works, because it’s run by people who understand that sometimes government is the solution, after all. And that seems to be something undreamed of in either Mr. Bush’s or Mr. McCain’s philosophy.

PALIN ELECTRIFIES CONSERVATIVE BASE
(Jonathan Martin, Politico)
The selection of Sarah Palin as John McCain’s running mate has electrified conservative activists, providing a boost of energy to the GOP nominee-in-waiting from a key constituency that previously had been lukewarm — at best — about him. By tapping the anti-abortion and pro-gun Alaska governor just ahead of his convention, which is set to start here Monday, McCain hasn’t just won approval from a skeptical Republican base — he’s ignited a wave of elation and emotion that has led some grass-roots activists to weep with joy. Serious questions remain about McCain’s pick — exactly how much he knows about her and her positions, past and present, on key issues. But for the worker bee core of the party that is essential to any Republican victory, there are no doubts. 

NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY
(Michael Kinsley, Slate)
The important point about Palin's lack of experience isn't about Palin. It's about McCain. And the question is not how his choice of Palin might complicate his ability to use the "experience" issue, or whether he will have to drop experience as an issue. It's not even about the proper role of experience as an issue. In fact, it's not about experience at all. It's about honesty. The question should be whether McCain—and all the other Republicans who have been going on for months about Obama's dangerous lack of foreign policy experience—ever meant a word of it. And the answer is apparently not. Many conservative pundits woke up this very morning fully prepared to harp on Obama's alleged lack of experience for months more. Now they face the choice of either executing a Communist-style U-turn ("Experience? Feh! Who needs it?") or trying to keep a straight face while touting the importance of having been mayor of a town of 9,000 if you later find yourself president of a nation of 300 million.

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