Gustav and the ghosts of Katrina

Will another hurricane rain on President Bush’s parade?

As Democrats hold their national convention, said Mike Allen and Jonathan Martin in Politico, Republican officials are holding emergency talks on what to do if Tropical Storm Gustav hits New Orleans as a Category 3 hurricane on their convention’s opening night, as looks possible. The third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which badly damaged both New Orleans and President Bush’s image, is Friday, and a “Katrina II” could spoil Bush’s opening-night speech and the GOP’s “message of effective government management.”

It could also steal much of the GOP’s news coverage, said Frank James in the Chicago Tribune’s The Swamp blog. The national media is planning to head to St. Paul for the Republican convention this weekend, but “if Gustav turns into a major storm,” many journalists “will be headed to the Gulf Coast” instead. No wonder it’s “jangling political nerves.”

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