It was supposed to be one big coming out party, a coronation with thousands of partisan revelers enjoying the best of the sun and fun Florida has to offer. The Republican National Convention seemed like the perfect event for a jubilant governor to proudly show off his state.

Leave it to a major storm to dampen things and force you to, well, govern.
Instead of sitting back and simply playing host, or rubbing shoulders with all those big-buck mega-donors, you'll be responsible for overseeing the state's response to what is expected to be the first hurricane in almost seven years to strike Florida. Bummer!
As of this writing, Tropical Storm Isaac is forecast to become a Category One hurricane by the time it enters the Gulf of Mexico. Its path has it skirting Florida's west coast, although the storm is expected to produce heavy rain and fierce wind gusts in the Tampa area. The city's bayfront is a low-lying area that has been vulnerable to flooding before. If authorities call for an evacuation, the convention would grind to a halt. For the 50,000 convention participants, the uncertainty momentarily amounted to a possible game change.

So far though, party officials still want to party. This, after all, is your party standard bearer's big chance to polish his image and appear a bit more human in the eyes of the electorate.

Convention officials continue to work with local and state authorities to ens.