Laura Bush, Cindy McCain turn focus to Gustav

More campaign changes
Obama also changed his plans in light of Gustav, planning to return home to Chicago on Monday night to monitor the hurricane and rearrange his schedule for the rest oif the week, aides told NBC News.

Obama has said he may visit storm-damaged areas once things have “settled down.” In the meantime, he sent a mass e-mailing urging hundreds of thousands of supporters to donate to the Red Cross to help victims of Gustav.

“Please give whatever you can afford, even $10, to make sure the American Red Cross has the resources to help those in the path of this storm,” the message said.

The Democratic vice presidential nominee, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, canceled plans to march in a Labor Day parade in Pittsburgh to monitor storm developments. “Our focus right now should be on what’s happening in the gulf,” he said.

Changing the focus
Some events did go on, however, in St. Paul, where Palin and Cindy McCain and Palin arrived Sunday night.

Duncan said Sunday that certain legal requirements had to be met despite the decision to truncate the convention in order to legally place McCain and Palin’s names in nomination.

INTERACTIVE Interactive convention party map Want to know where the events are outside the GOP convention in St. Paul?  Click here.

But mainly, party officials were trying to steer convention efforts toward raising funds for relief efforts.

Concerned about negative images of partying delegates while Gulf Coast residents suffered, the Republican National Committee and the McCain campaign were trying to police activities on the convention sidelines.

That included a warning to Louisiana delegates against traditional alcohol-laced “hurricane parties” following reports of a late-night celebration Sunday ahead of the storm’s landfall.

Alex Johnson of msnbc.com; Matt Berger, Savannah Guthrie, Mike Memoli, Andrea Mitchell, Domenico Montanaro, Mark Murray and Mike Taibbi of NBC News; NBC affiliate KARE of Minneapolis; and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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