With a potential hurricane threatening to pummel Tampa, Fla., during next week's Republican National Convention, party officials are insisting attendees rest assured: The show will go on.
"[W]e do have contingency plans to deal with weather-related and other circumstances that may occur to ensure that the business can go on at the RNC and Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan will become our nominees, and that the safety of the folks here attending it and in the Tampa Bay community are taken care of. We're hoping for the best," said Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer in an interview on CNN's "Starting Point" on Thursday.
When asked whether the convention could be canceled in the event of a hurricane hitting Tampa, Spicer replied, "No. There is no such thing as canceling. As I said, we have contingency plans."
There could, however, be quite a few wet attendees, since there are no umbrellas allowed into the security perimeter where the majority of the convention activities will be taking place. No word on whether officials will be handing out ponchos -- or as Mitt Romney calls them, "fancy raincoats."
Convention officials did not return a request for comment.
Isaac is still a tropical storm, but it could turn into a hurricane.
"Monday are Tuesday are definitely in jeopardy," said meterologist Bill Karins on MSNBC Thursday. "I don't see any way possible that Tampa's going to be completely missed at this point."
Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) said on Thursday that emergency management officials in the state are holding briefings twice a day with RNC officials, as well as local and federal emergency teams.
UPDATE: 12:47 p.m. -- William Harris, the CEO of the GOP convention, put out a statement on Thursday afternoon saying officials were continuing to "move forward" with the event, despite the potential hurricane threat:
The Republican National Convention and the Republican National Committee, working in consultation with the Romney/Ryan campaign, are in regular contact with the National Weather Service, Governor Scott and local emergency officials in an effort to track and understand the potential impact of the storm. Governor Scott and local emergency officials have assured us that they have the resources in place to respond to this storm should it make landfall, as our primary concern is with those in the potential path of the storm. We will continue to work closely with them and federal officials to monitor the storm and discuss any impact it might have on the Tampa area and the state of Florida. We continue to move forward with our planning and look forward to a successful convention.
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