The Republican Party conference to nominate US presidential candidate John McCain will open in sombre mood in Minnesota due to the arrival of Hurricane Gustav.
The Republican party is focusing the opening day of its convention into an appeal for aid for victims of Gustav, which made landfall earlier today.
Republican Party and McCain campaign officials continued to revise the convention schedule as the hurricane hit the Gulf Coast west of New Orleans and moved inland.
Fearing televised images of Republican festivities would be inappropriate as the hurricane - which killed dozens of people in the Caribbean - hit the Gulf Coast, candidate John McCain and his party will hold a curtailed business-only session for about two hours on the St Paul convention's opening day. St Paul is around 1,700 kilometres from New Orleans.
Mr McCain plans to accept the party's nomination in St. Paul, Minnesota, campaign staff said, as will his running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
Thousands of protesters took to the streets of St. Paul today, chanting anti-war slogans and holding signs criticising President George W. Bush.
They marched from the Minnesota state capitol to the heavily barricaded Xcel Center, where John McCain will accept the Republican presidential nomination later this week. Officials put the crowd at 8,000 to 10,000 and reported seven arrests.
Convention organisers have scrapped a planned speech by Mr Bush, whose nationwide approval ratings hover around 30 per cent.
Mr McCain, who visited a hurricane command centre yesterday, is keen to avoid comparisons with Mr Bush, who was seen as out of touch and was heavily criticised for his failure to respond to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina three years ago.
"I have every expectation that we will not see the mistakes of Katrina repeated," Mr McCain said after being briefed on storm preparations in the region.
The four-day Republican convention will nominate Mr McCain and his vice presidential running mate, Ms Palin, to face Democratic rival Barack Obama and Delaware Senator Joe Biden, in the November 4th presidential election.
The convention opens four days after Mr Obama concluded the Democratic convention with an acceptance speech before 75,000 flag-waving supporters in Denver's open-air football stadium.
Republican officials would not predict when or even if the remainder of the convention would proceed, and Mr McCain said he might deliver his acceptance speech on Thursday via satellite from the Gulf Coast.
Mr Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney had cancelled their appearances at the convention even before the schedule was reduced. The White House had said Mr Bush might address the convention later in the week.
Today's schedule will include the formal opening of the convention and official business that must be conducted according to party rules, said Rick Davis, Mr McCain's campaign manager.
The convention programme also will include some time devoted to making delegates and viewers aware of what they can do to assist relief efforts, he added.
Both camps struggled with the political implications of the storm, trying to appear responsive without appearing to be political opportunists.
Most polls show the two candidates in a close race. A CNN/Opinion Research Corp poll released last night showed Mr Obama leading Mr McCain by 49 per cent to 48 per cent, a statistical dead heat after last week's Democratic convention and Mr McCain's surprise selection of Ms Palin.
The party meetings are a prime opportunity for candidates to make their cases for election to a general public that is just beginning to tune in, and the loss of one or more days could be a blow to Mr McCain.
But today is Labour Day in the United States, a national holiday that would make for a smaller television audience for the Republican convention as many Americans will be away from their televisions celebrating.