ST PAUL, Minn (AP):

John McCain tore up the script for his Republican National Convention yesterday, ordering the cancellation of all but essential opening-day activities as Hurricane Gustav churned towards New Orleans.

"This is a time when we have to do away with our party politics and we have to act as Americans," he said as fellow Republicans con-verged on their convention city to nominate him for the White House.

On the eve of his convention, McCain positioned himself as an above-politics, concerned potential president determined to avoid the errors made by President Bush three years ago. "I have every expectation that we will not see the mistakes of Katrina repeated," he said.

Bush and Vice-President Cheney scrapped plans to address the convention today, and McCain's aides chartered a jet to fly delegates back to their hurricane-threatened states along the Gulf Coast. Campaign manager Rick Davis said the first-night programme was being cut from seven hours to two and a half.

Formal business

The formal business of the convention includes nominating McCain for president and Alaska Gov Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential running mate on Wednesday. McCain's acceptance speech, set for prime time on Thursday evening, is among the most critical events of the campaign for his chances of winning the White House.

The hasty reordering of an event months in the planning was unprece-dented, affecting not only the programme on the podium but the accompanying fund-raising, partying and other political activity that unfold around the edges of a national political convention.

McCain said he was looking forward to the convention but did not say when he would arrive. He spoke via satellite from St Louis after he and Palin received a briefing on hurricane preparations in Jackson, Mississippi.

In an interview with NBC, he said it was possible he would make his acceptance speech not from the convention podium but via satellite from the Gulf Coast region.

Campaign manager Davis told reporters inside the convention hall that the opening programme on Monday would be "business only and will refrain from political rhetoric".