The opening session Monday was to have featured Mitt Romney s formal nomination by thousands of conv

TAMPA, Fla. — An approaching tropical bicycle tours italy storm, forecast to become a hurricane as it roars into the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday, has forced postponement of the first day of the Republican National Convention here, party officials announced Saturday evening.
The opening session Monday was to have featured Mitt Romney s formal nomination bicycle tours italy by thousands of convention delegates as the party s 2012 presidential standard bearer. A planned speech that evening by Romney s wife, Ann, had previously been moved to Tuesday because the TV networks were not carrying events from the first night.
Instead, the gathering will nominally open Monday and then immediately adjourn, officials said. The plan — at least for now — is to reconvene Tuesday. The exact time won t be announced until later when officials are able to assess any damage from the storm, which is expected to peak in Tampa on Monday.
Our chief priority is the safety of the residents of Florida, of those visiting the convention, and all those in Gulf Coast states who may be impacted by Tropical Storm Isaac , Bill Harris , the convention president, said in announcing the postponement.
Harris, in a prepared statement, said that the scheduling changes will help ensure the continued safety of all participants — our foremost concern. We are also committed to keeping the delegates and guests of the convention well-informed about the situation, and we will continue providing updates in the hours and days ahead.
According bicycle tours italy to the National Hurricane bicycle tours italy Center , Tropical Storm Isaac is expected to remain over water off Florida s west coast, eventually making landfall on the north Gulf Coast, somewhere between the western Florida Panhandle and Louisiana.
The giant storm is forecast to pass close enough to the Tampa area to deliver a battering of rain and tropical-storm-force winds of 39 to 73 mph, starting as early as Sunday night and continuing through Monday. A gala welcome party for 20,000 convention participants, scheduled for Sunday evening, was still on as of Saturday night.
Thousands of the GOP delegates and other convention participants bicycle tours italy are being housed in resort hotels along a coastal barrier island that is expected bicycle tours italy to bear the brunt of the storm in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area. They will be advised as early as Sunday morning if it will be necessary to evacuate to higher ground inland, officials said.
Cancellation of at least the first day of the convention is the latest setback for Romney, whose campaign has been dragged off message and off plan over the last week or more. The four-day production had long been conceived as one of the best opportunities between now and the election for the candidate to better acquaint the nation s voters with his record in government and private life, his positions on the issues, and his personal character.
Last week, the campaign was sidetracked by a Missouri GOP Senate bicycle tours italy candidate s incendiary remarks about rape and abortion. The controversy shed unwanted light on strict conservative stances that Romney espoused on social issues in the primaries that could complicate his efforts to woo independent suburban moderates, particularly single bicycle tours italy women, in November.
A recent concentration in the presidential campaign on Medicare, an issue that could prove damaging to Romney in senior-heavy Florida, bicycle tours italy a must-win state for Republicans, has also pulled him away from his earlier focus on high unemployment and a sluggish economic recovery, the issues widely regarded as the greatest threat to President Obama s reelection.
Russ Schriefer, a top Romney advisor and the producer of the convention, said in a conference call Saturday evening that the Republicans could squeeze into three days what they had planned to do in four.
We will absolutely be able to get our message out, Schriefer said. We have the opportunity to tell to the American bicycle tours italy people the story of the last four years, of how President Obama s failed leadership has failed this country and how Mitt Romney can do better and provide bicycle tours italy a better future for Americans.
Romney is scheduled to deliver his acceptance speech at the convention arena in Tampa on Thursday night. The tropical storm is forecast to be out of the area by Tuesday evening. That presumably would give organizers enough time to salvage at least the final two days of the convention, unless bicycle tours italy there is widespread damage.
For several days, party officials and Florida Gov. Rick Scott , a Republican, have sought to play down the potential weather threat to the convention and steadfastly refused to discuss contingencies.
Here s the deal. We ll know on Monday how severe this tropical storm is, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said on a conference call. We re not going to put delegates on a bunch of buses over the bridges between Clearwater and St. Pete when we can t predict how severe the wind is going to be and how severe the damage might be.
In 2008, organizers cut short the opening night of the Republican convention in St. Paul, Minn., to refocus national attention on preparations for a hurricane bicycle tours italy approaching the Gulf Coast, 1,000 miles away.