Presidential candidate John McCain may have been saved from numerous political pitfalls this week by a natural disaster that has allowed him to focus on competence and leadership (going to Mississippi over the weekend) instead of comparison and remembrance (video clips reminding voters of the mishandling of disaster relief during Hurricane Katrina).

By cutting short the festivities in St. Paul, the candidate who officially becomes the Republican nominee tomorrow night gets a bigger boost than he was likely going to get, especially after the success of last week's Democratic extravaganza in Denver.

While it may seem callus to look at the political benefits of the hurricane that hit the Gulf Coast this week, with such a close presidential race between Democratic nominee Barack Obama and McCain, every political decision may make all the difference when it comes to who is sworn in on January 20.

As long ago as late June, there was a buzz that Vice President Dick Cheney was going to skip Minneapolis altogether. With high negatives among much of the electorate, having the vice president on stage was not going to help the GOP. So it was no surprise that last week, it was announced he would be taking a foreign trip during the GOP convention.

Of even greater help to McCain, President Bush got less than expected air time, appearing by satellite last night, instead of being there, because of his high negatives too.

Also, by shaving the convention, McCain limits the opportunity for continuous video loops of any bad news that might be brought up about his new running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who has yet to be heavily vetted by the media, as noted with Monday's announcement of her daughter's pregnancy.

What McCain does not need is what happened to George Bush the elder when he announced unknown Indiana Sen. Dan Quayle in 1988 - for days during the GOP convention, held in New Orleans, the media had a feeding frenzy on the senator's National Guard service.

Finally, and perhaps most important to McCain, is that he does not have to try to top Obama's stellar acceptance speech at Invesco Field. The momentum of the Democrats' week, fed by the drama of what the Clintons would do, built anticipation and audience interest for the new nominee.

Without such drama, it is doubtful if McCain would be able to draw a similar 38.4 million viewers (more than that watched the opening of the Olympics), hurting him in the media's expectations department.

So in the end, a natural disaster may help McCain more than a scripted convention from Minneapolis.

Cosentino, a former mayor of Auburn, can be contacted at cozguytho@aol.com