Storm blows a hole in Mitt Romney's charm offensive

It's all pretty cosy in Tampa. Cosy if you are a lobbyist or donor to the Republican Party shuttling between breakfasts, coffees and cocktails, downing the elixir of proximity to political power. Even we in the media are cosseted with the air-conditioned tented tunnel that ushers us to the hockey arena where the convention will belatedly unfurl. Heaven forfend we should suffer the elements.

Someone wants us and the viewing public beyond to see Mitt Romney as all love and hugs. The stage from which he will deliver his nomination acceptance speech on Thursday is more sitting room than pulpit. All around are big screens framed in honeyed timber, some showing blue skies.

If this seemed like clever staging a few days ago it might not any more. It was the Republicans’ exceptional bad luck that Isaac decided to roll in just now. It’s not only that the first day of business yesterday had to be cancelled. Much more problematic is the juxtaposition of the usual happy choreography with the havoc that Isaac threatens to unleash along the Gulf Coast and, possibly, New Orleans seven years after Hurricane Katrina. It will make it even harder to pull off the original mission of the convention — to reassure voters that Mr Romney and running mate Paul Ryan have what it will take to pull America out of its doldrums. Now it must do this against a backdrop that will evoke memories of Katrina and the botched response to it of the last Republican president, George Bush.

Mr Ryan, whose arrival in Tampa was delayed by a day because of the weather, was aware of the pitfalls when he addressed raucous supporters in his hometown of Janesville, Wisconsin, before flying southwards. He told the crowd his prayers were with those “still standing in the path of the storm”.

Delegates who had expected a week of confetti and funny hats now know a more subdued atmosphere is in order. “What would help is if we cut some of the fluff,” said Brad McCally, 32, who will sit in the Texas section when proceedings begin tonight with a speech by Ann Romney, the candidate’s wife. “I don’t feel like we should have a party. We need to have a little respect for the heartache that Louisiana is going to suffer as the hurricane hits land.”