Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus on Monday said the GOP convention’s condensed schedule in light of Tropical Storm Isaac would not weaken the party's message.
“The DNC has a shortened schedule next week. Three-day conventions — we can have a great week,” said Priebus in an interview aired Monday morning on NBC’s “Today" show.
“Our message is a positive message for this country — I mean, obviously we want to pray for anyone in the path of this storm, but the message is still the same, that all Americans deserve a better future and that this president, whatever you think about him, the one thing that’s true that everybody can agree on, he didn’t fulfill the promises he made in 2008.”
Republicans were forced this weekend to shuffle their convention schedule after events were canceled on Monday amid fears Isaac would strike Tampa.
On Sunday, the RNC announced a new program with high-profile speakers and events crammed into three days as meteorologists predicted that the storm’s path would spare the convention site a direct hit.
But Isaac is still expected to develop into a Category 1 hurricane and is bearing toward the Gulf Coast, where it could make landfall in Louisiana on Tuesday or Wednesday, the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
That prospect has Republicans worried that their carefully choreographed convention introducing Mitt Romney to voters could be overtaken by the storm’s impact.
Priebus, however, said that Republicans were not worried they would need to compete with the storm for headlines.
“Certainly it’s an important story, so I think it is what it is,” he said. “The main thing is that the people who could be in the pathway are safe. Our message is still going to be the same and the nice thing about where we sit as Republicans, no matter what Barack Obama says, we have the facts on our side, and these are facts that continue to move forward no matter what happens out there in the world.”
The RNC chairman expressed sympathy for those in the storm’s path.
“It’s a terrible thing. We certainly hope it doesn’t develop into something stronger. We have to tell the Mitt Romney story and prosecute the president on what he promised, what he delivered. And at the same time you have to report on this storm, because it is something that people need to know about,” he said.
