Opinion: Gustav blows through St. Paul, too

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The biggest name at the Republican convention isn’t McCain or Bush or Palin ... it’s Gustav.

St. Paul is at the opposite end of the Mississippi River from New Orleans, but the hurricane has nonetheless torn through the agenda at this convention. The president and vice president won’t be speaking here. The governors of Louisiana and Texas, once featured speakers, are staying at home on hurricane disaster watch, and the governor of California is staying home on budget disaster watch.

TV anchors are packing their gear and heading south, to the consternation of convention organizers, who had hoped for a good-sized TV audience.

And for delegates, the celebratory dance-card of parties has suddenly vanished like a popped balloon. The parties that remain have often been ‘’repurposed’’ with an eye to the serious doings on the Gulf Coast. Monday night’s Medtronic-sponsored gala that the California delegation was sharing with Arizona, Indiana, Minnesota and Tennessee has shifted to a time slot a few hours earlier and it’s turned into a fundraiser, with the medical tech company matching delegates’ donations for hurricane relief.

Tuesday’s ‘’Bloody Mary Brunch’’ hosted by the Morongo Mission Band of Indians has become just the ‘’California delegation brunch.’’ Maybe virgin Marys?

But the California goodie bags, assembled before Gustav was more than a tropic zephyr, are still a Golden State cornucopia: California raisins and almonds, vanilla body butter from San Diego, a plastic squeezy head of iceberg lettuce from California Growers, OPI nail polish in ‘’wine me and dine me’’ red, a keychain light from the California Nations Indian Gaming Association and another one from PG&E [mine didn’t work; happily, I’m a DWP customer], a pedometer from the California Hospital Association, and a Mickey Mouse necklace in flashing red, white and blue Mickeys.

And of course a tire gauge, to mock Barack Obama’s point that cars with properly inflated tires get better mileage and save more gas than under-inflated tires ... a gag that seems to be running out of gas itself.

The disquieting photo of a Gustav-torn American flag in Houma, LA, is by EPA/Larry W. Smith.