Inside the Xcel Energy Center, the Republicans held a scaled-back opening day of its national convention due to Hurricane Gustav. John McCain’s wife, Cindy, and First Lady Laura Bush both urged private donors to give money for hurricane relief efforts in the Gulf Coast. At the convention, the Republican delegates adopted a new party platform that largely avoided mention of the Iraq war. The new platform states, “the waging of war — and the achieving of peace — should never be micromanaged in a party platform…In dealing with present conflicts or future crises, our next president must preserve all options.”