Aug. 31 (Bloomberg) -- John McCain said he's suspending most of tomorrow's events at the Republican National Convention to focus on aiding U.S. Gulf Coast victims as Hurricane Gustav approaches landfall.

``We are facing a great national challenge,'' McCain said in remarks sent by video from St. Louis to Republicans gathering in St. Paul, Minnesota, for the nominating convention. ``We have to do away with party politics and we have to act as Americans.''

The first two days will be devoted to business that is legally required, such as approving credentials of the state delegations and convention rules, Republican National Chairman Mike Duncan said.

At the same time, fundraising appeals -- to help those affected by the hurricane -- will take place at all social events around town. ``We will act together'' to help storm victims, McCain said.

Earlier today, McCain toured the Mississippi State Emergency Operations Center in Jackson, Mississippi.

The programming changes came as residents along the U.S. Gulf Coast from Texas to Mississippi were fleeing their homes ahead of the storm.

Earlier today, the White House announced that both President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney are canceling their speaking appearances at the St. Paul convention that had been scheduled for tomorrow.

Gustav is headed for landfall in areas scoured by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita three years ago.

Obama Effort

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama told reporters in Lima, Ohio, today that his campaign will e-mail supporters and ask them to donate time and money to the relief effort. He said his campaign will be able to ``get tons of volunteers to travel down there if it becomes necessary.''

``It appears that there's coordination between the four states in a way that there wasn't last time,'' Obama said. ``So my hope is, is that we've all learned from the terrible lesson that we saw after Katrina and Rita.''

The Illinois senator said it was ``fine'' for McCain to travel to the region to review the preparations for the storm. ``We're going to try to stay clear of the area until things have settled down and then we'll probably try to figure out how we can be as helpful as possible.''

To contact the reporters on this story: Christopher Stern in Washington at Cstern3@bloomberg.net. Edwin Chen in St. Paul, Minnesota echen32@bloomberg.net;

Last Updated: August 31, 2008 16:31 EDT