Republican convention in the eye of a storm

0 Comments | AFP, September, 2008

ST PAUL, Minnesota (AFP) — A subdued Republican convention opened, blown off course by Hurricane Gustav and revelations that the teenage daughter of vice presidential pick Sarah Palin is pregnant.

With the nation preoccupied by the hurricane hammering Louisiana three years after the catastrophe wrought by Katrina, the Republicans gaveled open their convention shorn of the first day's usual pomp and ceremony.

The curtailed four-day gathering will rob presumptive nominee John McCain of precious primetime television slots to make his case to US voters, a week after his Democratic rival Barack Obama's spectacular jamboree in Denver.

And two new polls suggested that Obama had enjoyed a significant bounce since making history by becoming the first black...