ST. PAUL, Minn. -- A subdued Florida delegation to the Republican National Convention here met Monday for prayer and to hear how their plans for the week have been curtailed.The partisan political spectacle that is a national party convention has been retooled into a week of disaster awareness and fundraising.The shift will cost Florida delegates at least two nights of partying. State Republican Chairman Jim Greer asked delegates not to hold Wednesday evening parties that had been scheduled for Republicans from various congressional districts. A delegation-wide pool party set for Thursday night has also been canceled. Money saved by not staging the pool party will go to hurricane relief.Monday night's concert by LeAnn Rimes and the Bellamy Brothers was to go on, but delegates are asked to bring money to contribute to Gulf Coast hurricane relief.Delegates took the changes in stride. "Obviously, you've got to think it's appropriate. For all of us, in Florida, we've been on the other side if this," said Don Yaeger, a delegate from Tallahassee.What had been scheduled as a breakfast to honor Florida's Republicans in Congress, was turned into a prayer meeting with pastors and a rabbi beseeching the Almighty to spare the coast a major disaster.Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp of Cape Coral delivered the morning's most poignant message. He told the story of a woman 8-months pregnant when Hurricane Charley hit Southwest Florida four years ago. She was without power for weeks. Then her husband's condition suddenly worsened after routine surgery. Doctors gave her a choice: Wake him up to tell him he wasn't going to make it, or let him die peacefully. She chose a third path, calling her friends to gather in the husband's hospital room to pray. Soon, his condition improved and he eventually recovered, Kottkamp said. "That woman is very important to me. She's my wife," and emotional Kottkamp said."God answers prayers and he answers specific prayers specifically," he said.Ironically, during his battle with post-operative infection, Kottkamp was brought to the Mayo Clinic in Minneapolis. "The last time I was here, I was in a coma," he said.The convention changes go far beyond the Florida delegation. Monday evening speeches by President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were canceled. An address by First Lady Laura Bush focused on hurricane relief.Part of the Minneapolis Convention Center, where some convention activities are housed, was being converted into an assembly center for 80,000 "comfort packages" to be sent to hurricane victims.Greer conceded the changes will cost Republicans a chance to get their message to a national television audience the way Democrats did last week in Denver.But he said the president, nominee John McCain, and Florida's Republican leadership are doing the right thing by turning attention away from politics and toward the effects of Hurricane Gustav and possibly Hurricane Hannah."There are no winners. There are no losers. The American people expect the president to be serving the people. The Florida delegation is supporting our fellow Americans. We would ask them to support us if we were facing, and we have, similar circumstances," Greer said.As for McCain, his name was barely mentioned in the hour-long event.The focus was on a higher authority."Lt. Gov. Kottkamp's story, if that doesn't put it in perspective ... I think perspective is one of the things that gets lost in these events," Yaeger said.(Brent Batten is a political columnist for the Naples Daily News in Florida.)
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