McCain's wife calls for unity to tackle hurricane

Americans should come together and help support victims of Hurricane Gustav, the wife of Republican presidential hopeful John McCain said today.

Cindy McCain briefly addressed the opening night of the party’s national convention after her husband effectively put proceedings on hold so attention could be focused on the storm which was battering the US Gulf coast.

But a political storm was also growing over the Arizona senator’s choice of running mate Sarah Palin, who announced today that her teenage daughter was pregnant.

US political pundits said Mr McCain’s “risky” choice of the relatively unknown Alaskan governor raised questions about the 72-year-old’s judgment and whether Mrs Palin, 44, would be able to take over as commander-in-chief should anything happen to him.

It emerged Mr McCain had met her only once before picking her and her office was already under investigation over the dismissal of a commissioner who refused to fire her former brother-in-law, following a bitter divorce from her sister.

Today, Mrs Palin and her husband Todd said their eldest daughter Bristol, 17, was about five months pregnant and intended to marry her boyfriend Levi.

The public statement was released to rebut “mud-slinging and lies” circulating on liberal US blog sites, McCain campaign officials said.

These completely unfounded rumours claimed Mrs Palin’s fifth child, Trig, who was born with Down’s syndrome in May, was actually her granddaughter and that she had faked her own pregnancy earlier this year to cover up for Bristol.

Asked about the rumours, Mr McCain’s Democratic rival Barack Obama said he considered people’s families and their children “off limits”.

At the Xcel Centre in St Paul, Minnesota, Mrs McCain said she was “so honoured and so proud” to be standing on stage next to first lady Laura Bush.

Both their husbands were missing from the first official day of the convention as they focused their efforts on Hurricane Gustav.

Mrs McCain echoed her husband’s message that delegates should “take off our Republican hats and put on our American hats” as she made a televised appeal for donations to help the victims.

The two ladies spoke on an abbreviated opening night of the convention which was devoid of political rhetoric.

Earlier, in Waterville, Ohio, Mr McCain visited a disaster relief centre and helped pack cleaning supplies and other items into plastic buckets that will be sent to the Gulf Coast area.

It is not known when he will attend the convention, but he is set to accept his party’s presidential nomination on Thursday night.

Only those portions of the convention programme that were absolutely necessary to fulfil requirements were held.

Plans for the rest of the week will be announced on a day-by-day basis as the situation with Gustav develops.

The last-minute changes reflected an intense desire by Mr McCain and the Republicans to avoid the political damage that President George Bush suffered from his widely-criticised response to Hurricane Katrina three years ago.

The uncertainty contrasted with a state of readiness inside the Xcel Centre, a hockey arena transformed into a made-for-television red-carpeted convention hall.

Thousands of red, white and blue balloons were nestled in netting high above the floor – to be released during the final-night festivities if the Republicans decide to go ahead with them.

On the Democratic side, Mr Obama altered his campaign schedule to return to his Chicago headquarters to monitor Gustav’s progress.

His 16 campaign offices in North Carolina solicited non-perishable goods for the storm’s victims.

Earlier, at what was originally expected to be a raucous campaign rally in Detroit, Michigan, Mr Obama was in more of a sombre mood, urging supporters to pray for those affected by Gustav and to donate to Red Cross relief efforts.

He also sent emails and text messages to his vast network of supporters, urging them to “give whatever you can afford, even 10 dollars, to make sure the American Red Cross has the resources to help those in the path of this storm”.