Print and broadcast media seem gleeful that tropical storm Isaac, a vast 1,600 miles southeast of Tampa, Florida, yesterday could (note the word could) hit the 2012 Republican National Convention as a hurricane on Tuesday and the mayor (a Democrat, by the way) said he is ready to call the whole thing off, if necessary, because of stormy weather, notes Grumpy Editor.
Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn won’t be doing that, of course, to his fair city that is about to welcome thousands of convention visitors but it gave media a fresh angle, along with a long-range weather outlook, in connection with the upcoming gathering at Tampa Bay Times Forum.
With 15,000 international press members due, it’ll take more than political and meteorological wind to stop them from going to America’s 55th largest city, Aug. 27 to 30.
Also in attendance at the convention will be 2,286 GOP delegates and 2,125 alternate delegates from 50 states, District of Columbia and five territories.
Late yesterday, Isaac was closing in on the Leeward Islands, east of Puerto Rico.
Weather forecasters saw tropical storm Isaac possibly developing into a hurricane today or tomorrow while media jumped in with their own outlook, focusing on the disturbance as posing a threat to the convention at 401 Channelside Drive in Tampa.
That inspired a number of interesting headlines. Among them, starting with one injected with a bit of humor:
New York Daily News: Tropical storm Isaac may cause bigger problems for RNC than Obama
USA Today: Isaac could threaten GOP convention in Tampa
Christian Science Monitor: GOP’s Tampa convention likely to be wet, but how wet?
Fox News website: Tropical Storm Isaac poses potential threat for Republican National Convention
CNN website: Tropical Storm Isaac a concern as GOP convention nears
Tampa Bay Times: Tropical storm Isaac becomes a concern for RNC
Washington Post: Could Hurricane Isaac derail the GOP convention?
With the Washington Post story, readers getting deeper into the text would note what Dennis Feltgen, spokesman for the National Hurricane Center in Miami, cautioned:
“There is still way too much uncertainty right now, and it’s too early to know what effect it (Isaac) could have in the U.S. and in Florida. It depends on how much time it spends on land in Cuba. We don’t know what kind of shape it will be in by the time it clears those islands.”
Still, most media --- in seeking to grab readers or viewers --- zoom right past that flashing yellow light.
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