St. Paul, Minn.–

With Hurricane Gustav about to slam into the Gulf Coast, the GOP is making drastic changes to the convention, which is slated to start here tomorrow.

John McCain addressed the press via satellite from St. Louis where he is campaigning today and was joined by RNC chairman Mike Duncan and McCain campaign manager Rick Davis. The convention will not be canceled or postponed, but there will be serious changes starting with Day One of the convention. Instead of a whole evening of speakers praising their almost-nominee and hitting Barack Obama tomorrow’s events will be abbreviated. McCain said it was “a time for action” and convention-goers should take off their “Republican hats” and put on their “American hats” to bring the country together while Gustav wreaks havoc on the Gulf coast, “This is a time when we have to do away with our party politics and we have to act as Americans. We have to join with 3 million other Americans on behalf of our fellow citizens. It’s a time for actions.”

Davis said that each day’s convention activities would be announced that day and he did not talk about specifics for later in the week. Tomorrow the convention will open at 3pm central time, but it will only consist of “essential business” which includes electing officers, adopting the Party rules and the Party platform and it is expected to conclude around 5:30pm.

McCain was briefed on the impending storm today in Jackson, Mississippi and he was clear that Gustav will not be another Katrina with regards to government mishandling of the tragedy, “I can also tell you the level of cooperation between the federal government, the state governments, the local governments in Louisiana and in the other effected states is excellent, is excellent. And I have every expectation that we will not see the mistakes of Katrina repeated, in fact I’m very optimistic that we will see a degree of cooperation and effort on behalf of any victims of any one who’s lives are touched by this great natural disaster that may be continue to do, as Governor Haley Barbour said the other day, he said today, ‘Pray for the best and prepare for the worst’ and I think that’s what we are doing as nation.”

Rick Davis, McCain campaign manager spoke next and said that they had hoped for a more traditional convention, but events have “conspired to do otherwise.” He pressed that no decisions have been made post 5:30 tomorrow.

The campaign is flying delegates from Gulf Coast states home and some may even return to the convention with their families. The first charter left today, but Davis said they would continue all week. They also have a committee of delegates from the Gulf Coast states that have been giving advice to the campaign on what changes should be made to the convention. There will be an information center set up to brief the delegates on those changes and the progression and damage of the storm.

He repeated that tomorrow will be business only with no political rhetoric and that they are working on fundraising for people who will be affected. They will tap delegates and others at the convention for donations and Davis pressed McCain’s commitment to raising funds for storm victims, “We are working with the delegations, the finance people who are here. Our own finance committee that is in attendance and many other concerned individuals to do what we can to raise money during the course of the week for various charities that operate in the Gulf Coast region,” Davis told reporters, “Something we have a late start on I would say but it’s something that the Senator is completely committed to by using all the generous people that are here for a political convention and see if we can turn them into charitable fundraisers on behalf of those who will be affected by the hurricane. “

Reporters tried to press Davis to give more information about convention activities later in the week, but he said it would be inappropriate to make plans past tomorrow when the storm is still so unpredictable. He was also asked if it is appropriate at all for McCain to accept his nomination in person on Thursday, “We have to have a quorum on floor of the convention in order to conduct the business of the convention which includes the nomination of the candidate. Beyond that I can’t speak to whether or not it’s a requirement of the senator to be here. He would like to be here. This is a culmination of a political career that has been launched a long time ago. A hard fought primary campaign so obviously he is going do everything he can but obviously too we aren’t going to do anything that would be deemed inappropriate in the course of this kind of situation.”

Davis said that the campaign is looking into pulling ads that were set to run this week because the negative tone would be inappropriate during Gustav, “We are looking as a campaign at different options. Right now we had some ads that were being purchased as a course of normal activity this week and we are evaluating whether or not we have them go up or even if we can get them down so we are looking at that as a campaign.”

The updates from the RNC will continue all week. Check back for the latest news on changes to the convention schedule here.